Beautiful Souls
by Kaleidoscopezx
Summary: Hermione and Ginny work for a company who travels the world and inspect magical beings. Sent to Forks, they investigate the vampire and werewolf races, but they get much more than they expected and they are thrown into a battle for their life and love.
1. The Assignment

Hello readers! This is my first Twilight story, so give me some slack! Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer and HP characters belong to J.K Rowling, but the plot is all mine! Takes place right after Breaking Dawn! Read and review please!

**~*1*~**

**The Assignment**

The rain patters against the window sill. Hermione can see every puff of breath on the window as she stares out onto the streets were wizards and muggles alike scuttled along, trying to get out of the rain. A dreary day it is. It has been like this all week long, and Hermione longs to see sunlight. Gripping her coffee cup that had warm, muggle hot chocolate inside, she curls up tighter, conserving her warmth underneath her thick blanket. Hermione always seems to be cold, even though the apartment is quite cozy and warm.

The front door was suddenly thrown open and Hermione red haired roommate scuttles in, fighting to close the door and the umbrella. "Muggle contraptions." Ginny mutters angrily, slamming the door with her foot. Closing the umbrella, she huffs and hung it up on the coat hanger then moves to take off her sopping wet jacket. "Hermione," she smiles. "You got off early."

Hermione smiles from her perch. "They didn't have much to do on my end." she explains.

Ginny makes an aggravated noise. Tossing her coat onto the hanger, she then moves to take off her cheetah print rain boots she had bought from a muggle store. "It was so busy on my end! Two of our agents will be going to America!"

Hermione, who is sipping down on her hot chocolate, nearly chokes. "America?" she gasps. "No agent has ever gone there!"

Ginny nods eagerly and scuttles over to their favorite perch. Snatching the blanket off of Hermione, she reaches to the steaming cup on the table beside them. Hermione made it for her. "WMC wants the agents to go Forks Washington. Apparently, there is a strange amount of magical beings there, mainly vampires and werewolves." Ginny brightens. "Hermione, don't be mad at me, but I put our names on the board for volunteers."

The Worldwide Magical Corporation, or WMC, is a large agency in London where a group of prestigious witches and wizards who are handpicked from the company's board, travel the world and check up, make friendships, and make new discoveries about other kinds of magical beings; such as vampires, werewolves, elves, and much more. Hermione and Ginny were picked from the company's board and both hold very high positions under the studies of vampires and werewolves. Their work consumed most of their life, but the girls loved it.

But both girls, sadly, are single. After the Great Battle, Hermione and Ron's relationship didn't progress. The kiss they shared was just a moment of passion and never went anything beyond that spark. Ginny however, can't barely look at Harry. After the battle, Harry pulled away from everyone, falling into a deep depression about everyone who died for him, and threw himself into his work as an Auror. Ginny quickly broke it off and both of them are still pretty icy toward each other.

Hermione smiles. "Ginny, I would love to get out of London! It will be a great chance to finally get out into the field!" the girls have never gone on a actual trip, they take care of everything at WMC for the wizards and witches who are out on trips, like sorting through information and providing them will all their needs. "It's not like they can say no to us." Hermione gushes with a smile.

WwWwWw

"Bill!" shouts Hermione, running after her boss. "Why were we denied?" she demands, grabbing her boss on the shoulder.

Ginny scuttled up behind them, panting. Ginny's weakness was running, especially in the six inch heels she insists on wearing everyday. Bill turns to face them. Bill was around his fifties. He was a kind man who wore glasses that covered the enormous bags under his eyes, but his light blue eyes were kind and his blond hair was graying. He adored Hermione and Ginny and treated them like his daughters. He was highly respected in WMC. "Girls, I need you here. It's as simple as that." Bill explains, his eyes reading over a paper from India. "Now, please." he turns to leave but Ginny grabs his arm.

"Please Bill! We have been wanting to do field work since we first started working here!" Ginny argues.

Bill finally meets their eyes. "Girls, no one in WMC has gone to Forks before. Our recent facts about Forks suggests that the kinds of werewolves and vampires down there are the kind we don't usually see. We need wizards and witches who are experienced out in the field and know how to use a wand if things get rough."

Hermione stifles her anger, but says this, "Are you forgetting Ginny and I survived the Battle at Hogwarts?"

Ginny looks at Hermione in surprise. Bill sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "Yes, but..."

"Bill please," begs Hermione. "Let us go."

Ginny looks back and forth from Bill to Hermione, waiting for the answer. Bill sighs. "If I let you go, you must be careful."

Ginny squealed and nearly jumped into Hermione's arms while Hermione laughs happily. Bill rolls his eyes and walks away. "Seven A.M tomorrow you need to be here! Don't be late!"

QqQqQqQqQq

Emily looks up from her station behind the kitchen counter and smiles when she sees Seth wrestling with Paul on the floor of the kitchen while the rest of the boys were finishing off breakfast, laughing and cheering them on. She is glad they are in such good sprits. It was less than a month ago when the Volturi came to Forks and nearly killed everyone. The pack had allied themselves with the Cullens to protect their half human, half child baby named Renesmee, who Jacob has imprinted on. Now that the Volturi is leaving Forks alone, everything is peaceful, including the relationship with the Cullen's.

Something suddenly flew from the open window and landed on the kitchen sink. Emily turns and frowns. It is a black owl that is holding what looks like a letter in it's beak. "Sam!" Emily calls, reaching forward and taking the note from the owl.

The boys stop wrestling and look up. Sam walks in from the living room and frowns at the owl. Emily opens the letter and reads it out loud for all the pack to hear;

_To the Quileute pack,_

_This letter is from the Worldwide Magical Corporation that resides in London. This company was formed so that the wizarding world can connect with other magical beings. Since no agent of our corporation has ever visited Forks, Washington, we are sending two agents that will have to stay for six months. During that time, they will study you. Do not worry, they are not coming to run chemical tests on you and turn you into your government, but they are here just to make friendship. The two agents we are sending are named Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. They will be at your home no later than 8 o'clock. They also will be studying the Cullen coven, so they will not be with you the entire time of their stay. Please treat them with no hostility, for they will treat you with none and in sixth months, they will be gone._

_Thank you._

_-Worldwide Magical Corportaion_

CcCcCcCcCc

Esme finished reading over the letter that had arrived from the owl moments ago. Looking up at her family, she waits for their response. No one looks angry or worried, just confused. "I didn't even know wizards exist." says Bella, who is bouncing Renesmee on her lap.

"Oh, they exist." mutters Carlisle. He stands up and takes the letter from Esme and wraps his arm around her. "I'm just surprised it took them this long to contact us."

"What do they want from us?" asks Rosalie with a frown.

"Friendship." replies Carlisle simply. "And they want to study us, just like they said in the letter."

Alice, who was sitting by Jasper, suddenly freezes up. Jasper takes her hand and looks into her eyes. "What do you see?" he asks gently. Alice stays quiet for a moment, "They aren't going to harm us." she replies. She looks at Jasper and her eyes fill with sadness but it quickly disappears. Taking her hand from his, she clears her throat, obviously troubled. "They will not be of any harm to us. They want friendship like the letter said."

Jake, who was sitting next to Bella, scoops Renesmee from her and stands up. "It also says that they will be studying my pack as well."

Carlisle nods. "This should not cause any alarm. They are simply here to make friendship. Nothing will change." Carlisle assured. Alice glances at Jasper from the corner of her eye and lowers her head sadly, knowing that what is going to happen is going to change everyone. Especially herself.

WwWwWw

Hermione quickly packs her suitcase, which she uses magic on to expand. She could hear Ginny talking from her room. "Hermione, this is so exciting! I can't believe we are actually getting to do field work! I need to see my family before we go, of course. Hermione, you will obviously have to come as well!" Mom will be thrilled!"

Hermione flinches at the word mom. She looks up at a picture on her bedside table of herself and her parents. Even though Hermione had erased her parent's memory and they moved to Australia, the Death Eater's found them anyway and killed them. This was right after the battle, and Hermione is still devastated. Molly, Arthur, and Bill did a good job on keeping an eye on Hermione, but even their kindness couldn't give Hermione the safety that her parents use to give her.

Quickly, Hermione takes the picture and tucks it into her suitcase, not wanting to leave it behind. She finishes packing quickly and decides to owl Harry. She doesn't tell Ginny obviously. She sits down at the desk in her room, takes out a quill and begins to write.

_Harry,_

_It's been awhile since I have heard from you. I know you are working hard, but it shouldn't take long to owl me back. Ginny and I are packing and are about to go to America. The WMC has assigned us to go to Forks, Washington to study a werewolf pack and a vampire coven. Don't worry about us. We survived Voldemort, didn't we? We can handle werewolves and vampires. They aren't even aggressive by what Bill has told us. It will be a long six months by the time we get back. I know you won't want to come and say goodbye because of Ginny, but when I get back will you meet with me for lunch or something? I miss you Harry. Don't pull away from me of all people. I was there and experienced the things with you that you are haunted by. _

_Ginny says I still have the nightmares. Most of the time, I don't remember them. They are getting more vibrant though. I wake up screaming my head off or crying my eyes out. Ginny has the same issue as well. Neither of us are over what happened. I've heard that Ron has the same issue. Do you? We all saw the same things. Don't pull away now. You don't only need us, we need you as well._

_Owl me back!_

_-Hermione_

After Hermione folds it, she sends it with her brown owl Lola and she flies off. Hermione peeks out from her room and sees that Ginny is watching muggle television while eating some chocolate frogs. Hermione flopps down beside her friend and watches her closely. The bags underneath Ginny's eyes were growing darker. "Ginny, have you slept at all?" asks Hermione gently.

Ginny looks at Hermione, looking. "No." she whispers. "They have gotten worse."

Hermione nods, understanding. Ever since the war, Hermione and her friends have had horrible nightmares nearly every night. It was mostly the same stuff. Harry's dead body, Hogwart's students falling to the ground from spells, bodies laying in their own pool of blood with sightless eyes, and simply standing in the darkness listening to people's screams. Lately, Hermione's nightmares have gotten worse. More violent. More dark. Obviously, Ginny's have gotten worse as well.

"Have you tried the No Dream drought?" asks Hermione.

Ginny nods and puts down her chocolate. "I've tried everything! Spells, droughts, even muggle pills! All they do is make the dreams worse." she whimpers.

Hermione stretches over and hugs her friend. "I am dealing with the same thing. I think everyone who was young and in the war is dealing with the same things."

"Why won't they stop?" whimpers Ginny.

Hermoine stays silent for a moment. "I don't know about you, but I haven't emotionally dealt with the war yet. The past year has been too much for me and work hasn't helped. I've pushed everything I saw, felt, and thought about the war in the back of my mind, so they still are fresh in my mind." she tries to explain.

Ginny nods slowly. "But it's been a year! They should have gone away by now!"

Hermione sighs. "We just need to accept the things we saw, the things we experienced, the lives we took, and the lives we had to let go of." her voice dies off at the end as Ginny's eyes waters up.

Ginny shakes her head, tears nearly falling over. "I... I can't." she whispers, before she gets up and runs into the room, slamming the door.


	2. First Impressions

Thanks for all the reviews and alerts!

**~*2*~**

**First Impressions**

At Seven A.M on the dot, Hermione and Ginny apparates into the WMC. They are carrying their trunks, Hermion's owl Lola is in her cage, and Ginny's cat Clover is meowing unhappily from it's cage. Bill was waiting for them in his office, looking over the last papers for the trip. He hands them them a folder. "This is everything on the Cullen coven and the Quileute pack." he says. He stares at the girls for a moment before opening his arms. Immediately, both girls find their way into his comforting arms. "Be careful, darlings." he mumbles into their hair.

The girls giggle and pull away. Smiling, they take each other's free hands. Hermione closes her eyes and whispers. "Forks." and they where gone.

_CcCcCcCcCc_

Hermione opens to her to find herself standing in front of a huge house. It was white and three stories tall. Hermione feels stunned from it. Ginny looks down at the folder, then looks back up. "This is the Cullen's home." she says, closing the folder.

Hermione nods. Bill had told the girls that the Cullen's had agreed to let them stay in their home over the sixth months the girls were in town. Ginny lets out her cat, who sprang free and stretched leisurely before running off. Hermione lets Lola out and the owl flies happily away. The girls then approach the door, but as soon as they step onto the step, the door flies open.

A gorgeous woman stood before them. She had soft brown hair, a heart shaped face, and her smile was stunning. "You must be the wizards?" she asks friendly.

Ginny and Hermione nod, stunned by her beauty. Two bodies emerge behind her. One was a man who looked her age who had blond hair and a warm, honey brown eyes while the other was a huge, muscular boy with brown hair. The blond man steps forward and smiles warmly. "Girls, I'm Carlisle." he swoops forward and takes Hermione's luggage with a warm smile. "Please, come in!"

The other boy walks up and takes Ginny's luggage with such ease that Ginny's jaw slightly dropped. The girls are led into the living room, where two other people are waiting. Both are woman. One has spiky black hair and looks slightly like a pixie whilist the other is a drop dead gorgeous blond. Carlisle and the other boy head upstairs to put their girl's luggage in the guest rooms. The woman who had greeted them gestured to the other two girls. "This is Alice." the pixie smiles. "And Rosalie."

Alice's gaze stays on Hermione and her face slightly falls, but she quickly replaces it with a fake smile. Ginny can't help but to stare at Rosalie. She is the most gorgeous person she had ever seen! Laughter came from upstairs. Two boys come into the room, one of them was from the door. "And they are Emmet and Edward." the woman introduces. Both of the boys wave. "And, I am Esme." she takes Hermione's hands in hers. "Please, make yourself at home."

Ginny, who luckily has jumped from her trance, looks to Edward. "Where is..." she pauses and frowns. Quickly, she pulls out the folder and scans through the names. "Bella, Renesmee, and Jasper?"

"Bella took Renesmee to see her grandfather," explains Edward. "And Jasper went hunting. He should be back any moment."

Ginny nods and puts away the folder with a sheepish smile. "Please, sit." says Carlisle.

The girls do so, and everyone who is standing follows in their suit. "So girls, we know you from the information Mr. Bill sent to us, but please, just tell us about yourselves." Esme says, snuggling up next to Carlisle.

Ginny and Hermione glance at each other. "Well," Hermione starts, shifting her position on the couch. "My name, obviously, is Hermione Granger. I'm nineteen years-old." she glances at Ginny who shrugs. "I am very good with spells and I am very curious about other magical beings." another pause. "I live with Ginny in an apartment. We have known each other since I started at Hogwart's, the magical school for Witches and Wizards in London, and have been good friends ever since."

Hermione nods to Ginny to begin. Ginny smiles her stunning smile. "Hi, I'm Ginny. I'm eighteen. My favorite kind of magical creature is werewolves, no offense." this makes the Cullen's smile. "I have six brothers." this makes the girls gasp while the men chuckle. "But, one of them... Died last year." her voice died off at the end, causing everyone in the room to frown.

"Ginny, I am so sorry." Esme says, looking stricken.

Ginny nods, suddenly looking unstable. She is clenching her fist. Never before had she been able to not cry when she talks about Fred. "Um..." she whispers. "Excuse me," Ginny quickly gets up and runs to the front door, throws it open and full out prints out.

Esme stands worriedly and suddenly is by the window and watches Ginny run into the forest. "Hermione, should I go get her?"

Hermione shakes her head. "No. Ginny hasn't fully... adapted with the fact that Fred is dead. She is still.. scarred by what happened to... All of us." whispers Hermione, cutting off slowly.

Esme looks at her with a worried face. "Hermione?"

Hermione jumps slightly and looks at her. Smiling weakly, she croaks. "I'm fine," she stands slowly, as if her body can't handle the movement. "Ginny will be back soon. She doesn't stay gone long. Can I see my room?"

"I'll take you." says Edward, smiling kindly at the witch. Hermione nods numbly and follows the vampire upstairs, unaware of the worried glances following her.

_GgGgGgGgGg_

_Fred... Fred... Fred... Oh Merlin, why Fred? Why?_

Ginny sobs as she sprints through the forest. She feels foolish, but she cannot cope with the pain that her amazing, goofy, immature, but protective brother could be actually gone? Yes, she has five others, but without Fred there was this gap that Ginny feels like can never be healed. Stopping slowly, she clawed at her eyes, trying to stop the crying.

"That isn't going to help," says a deep voice.

Ginny spins around in shock. A boy is standing in front of her. He is shirtless and just has a pair of shorts on. He has really sexy washboard abs and Ginny feels her cheeks blushing, but she quickly pushes it away. Sniffing, she wipes her eyes furiously. "It makes it stop," she replies in a groggy voice.

The boy walks up. He reaches forward to her face, and pauses for a moment right in front of her face, and when Ginny doesn't flinch away, he closes the gap and gently wipes away her tears. Ginny can't help but to shiver. His hand is so warm. "What's your name?" he asks gently. "And why are you so far out into the forest? Pretty things like you don't usually wander out this far."

Ginny can't help but to laugh. "I just needed to get out of the house I'm staying at, and my name's Ginny."

The boy's hand freezes. "Ginny? Aren't you the wizard that's coming to Forks?"

Ginny immediately recoils, her hand slowly reaching toward where he wand was in her back pocket. "How do you know that?" she asks, her instincts she had possessed for the war kicking in.

The boy raises his hands. "Hey, don't be scared. I'm part of the Quileute wolf pack." he assures her.

Ginny immediate relaxes and drops her hand away from her wand. She studies him carefully and tried to guess which wolf he. The folder had all of the wolves pictures, so she tries to remember his face. "Your Jacob, right?" she asks.

He smiles a big smile. "Yeah, that's me." he sticks out his hand and Ginny shakes it. Playfully, he shakes it hardly, making Ginny shriek and laugh. "Your staying at the Cullen's, right?" he asks and Ginny nods. "I was just on my way over there. Common, I'll walk you back."

_CcCcCcCcCc_

It doesn't take Hermione long to unpack, thanks to magic. Sooner than she expects, she is sitting on the windowsill of her open window and reading the folder on the Cullen's. As you probably have noticed, Hermione likes windows. She flips over Carlisle's paper and comes to Jasper's file. Hermione never really took anytime to read their files, so she can't help but to stare at Jasper's picture. He was extremely handsome, but when Hermione finds the Relationship note, it says that he is romantically involved with Alice, and Hermione quickly moves on.

"Mione!" calls a voice outside.

Hermione turns her head and sees Ginny coming from the forest with an extremely handsome, shirtless boy. Hermione raises an eyebrow. The boy waves. "Hey up there!" he calls with a friendly smile.

Hermione smiles back and waves. Looking at Ginny, she saw her friend's eyes were puffy and red but she was smiling. Hopefully, the boy had cheered her up. But seeing him shirtless, Hermione hoped he didn't cheer her up too much. "Hermione, this is Jake!" Ginny introduces the boy. "He's apart of the wolfpack!"

Hermione waves again. She leans a little out of the window and smiles. "Nice to meet-" but suddenly her words are cut off. Her grasp on the window looses and Hermione shrieks as she falls out of the window. She hears Ginny screaming her name. Hermione closes her eyes and waits for impact.

There is none.

Hermine's eyes fly open to find herself in a pair of strong arms. Expecting Ginny's new friend Jake, she looks up with a smile but it immediately disappears. Holding Hermione, bridal style, is none other than Jasper Cullen. Hermione's jaw drops at once. She feels paralyzed in his arms. Luckily, Ginny manages to pull her out of her trance. "MIONE! OH MERLIN! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO DIE!" screams Ginny, running up, a horrified Jake hard on her heels.

"Your alright, right?" asks Jake worriedly.

Hermione nods, unable to speak. She isn't is shock because of the fall, she isn't in shock because Jasper had appeared out of nowhere and caught her. She was in shock because the boy who Hermione had been staring at a photo of not even five seconds ago, had swooped in and saved her life. "Are you alright?" asks Jasper, his gentle country accent making Hermione's heart flutter.

Hermione nods quickly and immediately crawls from his arms. "I'm... I'm fine."

The door to the house busts open and the entire Cullen family comes running out. "Hermione!" gasps Esme, "I heard you screaming! What happened?"

"I fell from my window," explains Hermione shakily. "Luckily, Jasper caught me." her eyes float over to him and she finds him staring intently at her, like he expects her to suddenly drop dead.

"Are you okay?" asks Carlisle.

"I'm fine." Hermione assures everyone.

Carlisle holds out his hand. "Here, let me check on you." Hermione shakes her head. "I insist." Carlisle argues. "You may not believe it, but Jasper's arms are rock solid. You may have accidentally bruised something."

Right then, Hermione's ribs began to hurt. Wincing, she nods. Walking over to Carlisle, she takes his hand and he helps her inside, Edward helping as well. After they went inside, Ginny smirks and laughs. Everyone looks at her in shock. She smiles sheepishly. "In the first hour we are here, my best friend manages to fall out of a window. What else could happen?"

Suddenly, Alice freezes. Jasper is immediately by her side, holding her hand. Ginny frowns and is about to ask what is wrong when she remembers that Alice can see the future and is probably having a vision. After a long pause, Alice looks up, horrified. "The Volturi. They are coming."


	3. New Friends and Enemies

Thanks for all your reviews!

**~*3*~**

**New Friends and Enemies**

Ginny feels helpless.

She is helplessly running back and forth from each Cullen, trying to get some information about who these Volturi vampires are. No one bothers to pay attention to her, however. Luckily, she manages to grab Jake on his way back to his pack. "Hey!" she calls, jogging after her new friend who had left the house. Jake waits for her politely. "Can you please tell me who these Volturi people are?" asks Ginny.

Jake smiles and continues walking, Ginny's long strides matching his. "Your very curious?" Ginny smiles triumphantly. "The Volturi are like the law keepers in the vampire world. They enforce the law. When Bella had Renesmee, the Volturi and their entire guard came to Forks. My pack joined forces with them just in case a fight was to take place. Luckily, they ruled Renesmee innocent and left. I'm surprised they are back already," Jake explains.

"It maybe because me and Hermione are here." suggests Ginny.

Jake shakes his head. "Nah, they are probably just checking up on Renesmee." his voice got very firm all the sudden and his face grew very serious.

Ginny smiles a cheeky smile. "I have read your file. You imprinted on her, didn't you?"

Jake looks down at Ginny, for she is much shorter than him. "Yes," he says with a smile. He looks down at Ginny and ruffles her hair playfully. Ginny shrieks and dives away, frantically scraping at her hair to flatten it out. "You better be careful angel, your prettiness might rub off on some of my wolves back at the reserve."

Ginny rolls her eyes. "Please," she huffs.

Jake laughs. He then slows to a stop. "I need to transform into my wolf form. I will be able to get to the reserve faster."

Ginny stuck out her bottom lip. "I can't run as fast as you!"

Jake smirks. "I would hope not." Ginny rolls her eyes. "That's why you are going to ride on my back."

Ginny's eyes widen. Before she has time to protest, Jake turns right before her eyes. Ginny can't help but to take a couple steps back with a small shriek. Jake, as a wolf, is still bigger than her. His fur is a russet color with the same warm brown eyes. Bending down slightly, he offers Ginny to get on his back. Ginny slowly walks forward, breathing heavily. Slowly, she curls her fingers around his fur and hoists herself onto his back. She seems to fit perfectly between his shoulder blades and his back and breathes out, feeling a strange sense of safety roll over her.

Jake immediately takes off. Ginny's hair flies out behind her and she shrieks, pressing herself against's Jake back, wrapping her arms around his neck so she can hold on. She eventually has to close her eyes because they are watering furiously. Before she realizes it, Jake has stopped and they are at the reserve. Slipping off of his back, Ginny smiles a goofy smile. "That was amazing," she gasps, looking drunk.

"Jake!" voices call from the house they had stopped in front of.

Ginny looks up and sees a couple shirtless boys coming from the house. Ginny tried to hide back a blush that was creeping over her cheeks. One of them throws a pair of shorts at Jake and he catches them cleanly in his mouth before shuffling off. Ginny watches him leave, feeling slightly awkward. She turns to the other boys. "Uh, hey," she says warily, waving a small wave.

One of the boys walks up to her. "Who are you? Your not some babe Jake picked up off of the side of the road obviously, cause you were riding on his back."

Ginny stares at him hotly, offended by his rudeness. "No, I'm not some babe." she spits out the word babe. "My name is Ginny. I'm one of the wizards from the WMC." at once, the boy backs off while the others openly gape.

One who reminds Ginny of George walks up with a friendly smile. He reaches forward and picks up some of her flaming red hair. "A wizard." he says in a dreamy voice. "I've never seen a wizard before."

Ginny warily backs up, her hair falling from his grasp. _Do no wolves other than Jake hold any manners? _she thinks angrily. One wolf steps forward and Ginny caught his gaze. He was very tall, a deep tan, long lean muscles, black hair and brown eyes. Ginny can't seem to take her eyes off of him, and he can't seem to take his eyes off of her. "Serious guys, your creeping her out." he says, defending Ginny and she feels a rush of relief.

Jake, in human form, came walking back to Ginny and throws his arm over Ginny's shoulder. "Did they bit you, angel? Cause you look very offended." he asks, hanging his head over her shoulder playfully.

Ginny rolls her eyes. "A little bit creeped out, but no biting."

"Yet." adds the boy who had touched her hair, with a wink.

Jake laughs while Ginny rolls her eyes once again. "Ginbug, relax." Jake insists, shoving Ginny forward to the boys. "They won't bite."

"Yet." says the boy once again.

"Jake, are you forgetting why we came here?" demands Ginny, getting frustrated. "The Volturi are coming!"

_CcCcCcCcCc_

"Almost done," assures Carlisle, sowing up a deep cut on Hermione's rib she had gotten from her fall. Hermione doesn't flinch and simply lets Carlisle do his work. "Done." says Carlisle, leaning back with a warm smile.

Hermione smiles at the doctor. Hopping off of his desk, she pulls down her shirt. "Thanks Carlisle." she moves to leave when Carlisle's voice stops her.

"Most girls would freak out at the sight of a needle. Yet you don't even flinch." says Carlisle, washing down his hands, looking at Hermione.

Hermione turns to face him and leans against the wall, the small dose of morphine Carlisle had given her seeping into her body, making the pain disappear. "Well, I have seen much more than most girls." she says emotionlessly.

Carlisle nods and turns off his sink. "I can tell. I can see it in your eyes." when Hermione gives him a questioning look, he continues, "The eyes are the windows to a soul. I have learned this in my many, many years of being a doctor. I can tell when someone is fine and when they are not," he walks to his desk and leans against it and folds his arms. "Hermione my dear, you are _not_ fine. The pain you have inside is clear in your eyes, and not only your's, but in Ginny's as well. What have you seen? What have you gone through?" he asks gently.

Hermione, by this point, is stiff all over. Her fists are clenched and she is slightly shaking, her eyes watering up. "Carlisle, my emotions are something that I have not bothered dealing with for almost a year. I have tried to forget everything that I have seen and done."

Carlisle begins to look concerned. "What have you seen and done?"

Hermione stays quiet for a long time. "Carlisle, I can't come to face with these things yet. Especially not on the job."

Carlisle sighs. "Hermione, you need to be healed. I know you think it's the best to push your emotions away, but it's eating you alive." he walks up to Hermione and she flinches, even though there is still a large space between them. "Hermione, I can help you."

Hermione shakes her head, her emotions threatening to spill over. "I... I..."

Suddenly the door was thrown open. At once, Hermione masks her face with an emotionless expression. It is Edward and Esme. "Carlisle, Alice just had a vision. The Volturi are coming." Esme says, looking frantic.

Carlisle freezes all over. "What?"

_GgGgGgGgGg_

Ginny holds on tightly as Jake, in wolf form, runs at top speed back to the Cullen's home. With him is wolves who are named Seth, Leah, Sam, Quill, and Embry. Ginny can't help to glance over at Embry who is running swiftly beside Jake. She makes eye contact with the wolf and quickly looks away, feeling something flutter inside her chest. Quickly, they arrive at the Cullen's. Jasper and Emmet are waiting outside and greet the wolves and Ginny with a quick nod.

"Leah and Sam, can you take up around the house? We don't want too many wolves on exact site when the Volturi gets here," explains Jasper.

Leah and Sam both grunt and disappear like shadows into the forest. "Jake, Edward went to Charlie's house to get Renesmee. You probably would want it..." Emmet begins but Jake is already gone before he can finish. "Ginny, you can go inside if you want." suggests Jasper but Ginny abruptly cuts him off. "No, I want to be here." she replies firmly.

Jasper looks surprised but doesn't argue. Seth takes up a patrol around the house while the two vampires return to the house, leaving Ginny and Embry alone. Ginny clears her throat, feeling awkward. She simply sits down on the grass and looks out across the drive. "Well, this is some intense stuff. First day, I'm in the forest crying and meet my new best friend who happens to be shirtless, Hermione falls out of a window and caught by her future Romeo, and then the Volturi come." Ginny snorts and smirks. "I'm so glad I signed up for this."

Embry rumbles and Ginny smiles at him. Embry stares at her and Ginny stares back. She can't help but to feel trapped inside his gaze. Slowly, the big wolf walks over and lays down beside her, his eyes scanning the area. Ginny smiles a small smile. Slowly, she lifts up her hand and places it gently onto his back. Embry shutters gently and rumbles. Ginny's smiles widens and she wraps her fingers in his fur. She sighs gently, feeling incredibly safe for the first time in a year.

The front door of the house opens and the entire coven plus Hermione comes walking out. Alice stares down the drive. "They are coming." she states.

Ginny looks up. Just then, four figures float into view. Ginny suddenly feels a horrible rush of fear roll over her. They are all so beautiful, yet their eyes remind Ginny of someone she has been trying to forget for the last year. She stiffens and her fingers wrap tighter around Embry's fur. Noticing her sudden nervousness, Embry scoots closer to Ginny and she slightly relaxes. Hermione is also stiff and is breathing heavily. Emmet sees this and hovers around her, watching her worriedly.

When the four vampires reach the house, they all take off their hoods. There are three men and one woman. The woman steps forward. She holds her head high. Her hair is a blond color and her eyes are cold and heartless. Ginny averts her gaze and looks at Embry, the eyes reminding her too much of the evil wizard who had taken away her brother.

Fred.

Ginny stiffens. Looking helplessly up at Hermione, she sees her friend is going through the same predicament. They make eye contact and Ginny nods, trying to provide a sense of comfort. It doesn't help either of them.

"I see we have new friends." says the blond, her gaze resting on Hermione, and then Ginny.

Ginny meets her gaze with such aggressiveness, the girl narrows her eyes. "Obviously, we aren't vampires because we don't have the sparkling, sexiness your kind possess, or werewolves because we don't have their amazing tans." Ginny snaps.

The entire Cullen clan stiffens all over and looks to Ginny as if she was crazy. The girl doesn't look angry however. Ginny feels a heated gaze on her and she looks to one the other men vampires. He is extremely handsome. He has black hair that is swept to the side and a flawless face, obviously. Ginny immediately looks away, clearly not interested, but the boy's gaze stays. "You are a wizard." the girl states, clearly knowing what Ginny is. She looks to Hermione also. "What are you doing here?"

"We work for the Worldwide Magical Corporation." Ginny replies flatly. "We are making friendships and studying the Olympic coven and the Quileute wolfpack."

The girl nods slowly. "Yes, I know who you are." she says flatly. Her eyes find that Ginny is holding onto Embry's fur, and she smirks. "Yes, great _friendships_." Ginny's eyes narrow and Embry let's out a low growl. Seth came up beside him and also let out a low growl, making the girl frown and look away. Ginny immediately relaxes and leans heavily against Embry, the girl's eyes digging into her soul, bringing up horrible memories.

"We are here to tell you that the wizards must leave, or we must dispose of them." says the girl flatly.

"What?" asks Hermione, stepping forward angrily. "Why?"

"We do not want wizards meddling their way into vampire life. We prefer to keep to ourselves." says one of the men who was large and bulky.

"We aren't meddling!" snaps Hermione defensively. "We are doing our job!"

"Well, leave now and tell your boss that your job could not be done." replies the man flatly, as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"Why is it your business what we do with the Cullen's? By what I have been told you nearly attacked them last month," snaps Ginny and everyone looks at her again like she's crazy. Ginny's gaze is murderous. "You have no authority over Hermione and I." Ginny says. She stands up, letting go of Embry's fur. "Leave, now."

The girl smirks. "I don't think so."

Pain.

Horrible pain.

It's like a fire has erupted inside Ginny's flesh. Everything was hurting. Ginny's own screams was the only thing she could hear. Everything hurt. Ginny writhers on the ground helplessly, digging her fingers into the ground. This is much more horrible than the Cruciatus curse. It is like a entire new torture that Ginny has never experienced, and it was pure hell.

Suddenly, it stops.

"Ginny! Ginny!" a voice makes it way into her senses.

Ginny wraps her arms around the body that is holding her. Her vision returning, she looks up and finds Embry, in human form, holding her tightly in his lap. He is stroking her hair gently, his eyes wild. "Ginny! Your alright! It's over!" he assures her gently.

Ginny collapses into his chest and sobs. He rocks her gently back and forth. Ginny's eyes scan the perimeter, and it was pure hell. Shapes were moving all over the place. But one thing stuck out to Ginny, and she screams in utter terror and sinks deeper into Embry's hold.

It front of her, was the shattered and beheaded body of Alice.


	4. Saving Them

Sorry if the last chapter made some people angry! Killing off Alice was needed for my plot to work! I have nothing against her, but I needed to get rid of her to progress with my story.

**~*4*~**

**Saving Them**

Hermione doesn't even bother using her wand. She simply throws her belongings into her suitcase. Her eyes were red and puffy, tears rolling down her face. She can't stay here. Look at all the pain she has caused the Cullen's? She took Alice away from them. Now, it was time for her to go before anything else happens.

"What are you doing?"

Hermione looks up. Esme and a woman Hermione hasn't met are standing in the doorway. Hermione quickly wipes her face and continues packing, not able to make eye contact. "I have to leave."

"Why?" asks the woman Hermione doesn't know.

Hermione freezes. She turns to them in shock, masking her face with her usual expressionless face. "I can't stay here, knowing it was mine and Ginny's fault that Alice is..." Hermione couldn't finish and simply continues to pack.

The girl Hermione doesn't know walks forward. She then sits down on Hermione suitcase, closing it. Hermione frowns at her. "Hermione, you don't know me yet. I'm Bella, Edward's wife." when Hermione doesn't react, Bella continues. "Bella, Alice had a vision yesterday when we got your letter. She wouldn't tell anyone what it was, not even Jasper. Afterwards, she Esme and I pulled me into her room and told us that she was going to die." Hermione, who is looking out the window, turns around in shock.

Hermione doesn't understand this. "She knew she was going to die and yet, she does nothing about it?"

"Alice knew better than anyone about the effects of not following the path you are met to take. Alice knew, even though how much pain this was going to cause everyone, that it was for the best." Bella assures Hermione gently. Slowly, the beautiful woman stands and walks over to Hermione. Taking her hands, Bella looks into Hermione's eyes. "Leaving now would be a total waste of Alice's sacrifice. You _must _stay."

Hermione stares at Bella sadly. Her eyes float over to Esme. She looks stricken, but doesn't look angry at all. Hermione's masked expression suddenly washes away and the witch bites her bottom lip and nods slowly. "Alright, I'll stay."

_GgGgGgGg_

"She died trying to protect you and Hermione," explains Jake gently.

Apparently what had happened was Hermione and Ginny were being tortured at the same time and Alice had ran at Jane to stop her, but one of the guards named Demetri killed her before she could get to Jane. Jasper went totally crazy and tried to kill Demetri who had turned and ran. Jasper had pursued him and Edward and Rosalie had taken off after him. Carlisle immediately began talking to Jane, very angry. Jane, who had looked shocked, explained that it had been an accident.

When Ginny had seen Alice's body, she had been paralyzed for a moment, then she had ran at Jane. Ginny had cursed a spell at her but Jane had neatly dodged it. Emmet had rushed forward, grabbed Ginny by the waist, and hauled the screaming, kicking, an crying girl away. Jake, who had transformed into his human body, had rushed forward and had scooped Ginny into his arms and ran as far away from the house as he could to calm her down.

Ginny is curled into a protective ball and rocking back and forth. Embry is sitting beside her, watching her worriedly. The three of them were sitting on the beach in the reserve. Tears are rolling uncontrollably down her face and she was shaking like a lunatic. She watches the waves roll in, the sky growing darker every moment, "She's dead... because of... Me," Ginny whispers, her eyes glassy with pain.

Jake shook his head. "No angel, she was protecting you and Hermione. I know she didn't expect Demetri to attack her. She was simply trying to stop Jane."

Ginny bits her bottom lip. Embry slowly reaches forward and touches her cheek with his knuckles, wiping away the tears. But the old Ginny seems to kick in, and she pulls away, shaking harder. Embry looks rejected, but tries to hide it and takes his hand back. Jake tries this gesture, but the same result happens. "Ginny?" asks Embry gently.

His voice seems to jump the wizard back into reality. She blinks quickly and looks at the boys. Quickly, she stands up. "I'm sorry, for putting this on you both." she mumbled. "I should head back."

Ginny quickly retreats back into the woods but the boys quickly catch up with her. Embry grabs her arm and Ginny immediately yanks her arm away, looking like a wild animal. Embry frowns at her. ''Ginny, your not okay. You should come back to Sam's house. Emily can look at you..."

Ginny quickly shakes her head. "No. Jake, take me to the Cullen's."

Jake and Embry exchange worried looks. "Ginny.." Jake begins but Ginny yells, "Now!"

Jake sighs. Looking to Embry, he shrugs before morphing into wolf form. Ginny shaking crawls onto his back. Burying her face into his fur for a moment, she inhales his smell before quickly sitting upright as her friend turns and runs into the forest. She doesn't even look back at Embry.

_CcCcCcCc_

Jake gently tucks Ginny into her bed. The red headed wizard had fallen asleep on her ride back to the Cullen's. Jake frowns at her and sighs. Her face is covered with tear streaks and her nose is red. Brushing a stray piece of hair from her face, Jake exits the room. Closing the door as silently as possible, Jake turns and freezes in surprise to find Edward behind him. Edward signals for him to be quiet and to follow him. Jake follows his orders, and the two men walk downstairs. The entire Cullen coven and the wolfpack are in the living room.

Jake blinks in surprise. He sits down between Seth and Quil, wanting to know what this is about. No one is talking. Carlisle stands awkwardly and looks up the stairs before clearing his throat, "So, we are here about the wizards."

Jake leans forward with a frown. He finds Embry across the room, and his friend is staring at his feet. Suddenly, Jake finds Renesmee standing in front of him, holding out her arms. His insides filling with happiness, he scoops up his imprint and sets her on his lap.

Carlisle continues, "We all have noticed Ginny's and Hermione's behavior over the past few hours. To me, it is frightening because their emotional stability is on the verge of utter collapse. Earlier today, Ginny told our family that her brother died last year..." Embry's head shoots up, his eyes wide, "And ended up sprinting from the house crying. Hermione then explained to us that they have seen and done things that... They have not fully been about to deal with. I am not exactly sure what they have been through, but I am beginning to doubt their ability to do their job. If they are too unstable, they should go back to England and two other agents should be sent in."

Embry immediately interrupts. "I think they can do their job."

"But their emotions are seriously going to affect their work. I have seen their breakdowns with my own eyes. And I am sure you have as well." Esme insists, looking at Embry and then to Jake, who looks at the ground with a frown.

"What happened to Alice definitely took a tole on them as well. Ginny was nearly biting me when I pulled her away from Jane." puts in Emmet. Jake immediately looks for Jasper but he is not in the room.

"And Hermione almost left. I had to talk her into staying, which in this case might not have been the best idea." Bella says, saying the last part quieter.

"You guys," Jake speaks up, leaning forward. "I don't think we should just be worried about them doing their job. We should be worried about their souls. I think they were sent here for a purpose: To get healed."

"They were sent here for their job." Paul says pointedly.

"Yes but, maybe they need help. It seems like you all have noticed they need it, so why can't we help them?" demands Jake, leaning forward, looking Carlisle in the eye.

They room is quiet for a long moment. Embry looks hopeful with this. Bella nods slowly, "I don't feel comfortable sending them back. Like Jake said, we could help them." she looks at Carlisle. "I know we can help them."

Carlisle looks skeptical. He looks to Sam, who nods. Carlisle sighs and nods. "Alright."

_HhHhHh_

Hermione wakes up the next morning, her eyes sticky. She had nightmares, but for some reason it must not have woken anyone up. Her sheets are hanging off the side of the bed, so Hermione guesses that the night had simply consisted of thrashing. Hermione gets up weakly and grabs a new set of clothing. Heading down the hallway to the bathroom, she reaches toward the doorknob when a voice makes her turn around.

Jake, Ginny's werewolf friend, is standing behind her. He smiles gently. "Hey, just checking up. Sleep well?"

Hermione feels awkward. She has only spoken to Jake once, and she had fallen out of a window during it. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she smiles a half hearted smile. "Fine, I guess."

Jake nods slowly. "Well, that's good."

Awkward silence.

"How did the Volturi even know we were going to be there?" asks Hermione wearily.

"It was actually Bill. He knew about the Volturi and sent them a letter telling them about you and Ginny coming to the Cullen's. They never replied, so Bill decided it was best to not worry you with them. It says so in the letter that came in this morning," explains Jake.

"A letter came?" asks Hermione, brightening.

"Yeah." says Jake. "Carlisle uhh... Owled Bill and told him what happened."

Hermione's face fell. "Is he making Ginny and I come back?"

"No!" says Jake quickly. "You can stay."

Hermione looks relieved. "Good." she turns to walk into the bathroom and doesn't look back. Placing her clothed on the sink, Hermione looks up into the mirror. The bags underneath her eyes made it look like she had gotten punched underneath the eyes. Her face was very pale and she looks sickly. Hermione sighs. She is about to start stripping down when she looks out the window and freezes. Standing at the edge of the forest is Jasper.

"Jasper." whispers Hermione.

The blond vampire is staring at the house. He is not crying, for vampires cannot cry. His fists are clenched and hanging by his sides. He looks like a wreck. Hermione feels her body moving and soon, she is sprinting through the house. Throwing open the back door, she steps out. Jasper is still there. Hermione suddenly freezes all over. She cannot move. Grief takes over and she can barely stand. Holding onto the door frame, she begins to sob.

Jasper's eyes float over to Hermione. Locking eyes with her, Hermione knows she should look away, but she cannot get herself to. Something chills her insides. Getting the feeling back into her legs, she walks toward Jasper. He is frozen all over, his eyes unreadable. Sooner than Hermione expects of wants, she is standing in front of him. She opens her mouth, but no words come out. Finally, she manages two words.

"I'm sorry."

Jasper looks surprised for a moment, then his outlook completely changes. He lunges at Hermione, his eyes wild. Pinning her to the ground, he bares his fangs. Hermione screams loudly and tries to push him off. Fear burns like a fire and Hermione feels helpless. Jasper growls and grabs her elbow. He simply pulls it, and utter pain erupts in Hermione's arm. Hermione screams hysterically and bawls. "Jasper!" she cries, trying to push him off.

But he doesn't get off. He grabs her shin and presses down. Hermione screams louder, if it's possible. Suddenly, the pressure on her legs disappears and Jasper is gone. Hermione screams and brings her broken elbow toward her body, curling up into a ball, burying her face into the earth. She is aware of voices around her, but the pain is too intense. Slowly, Hermione feels herself being lifted up by gentle arms. She grabs onto her carrier's shirt and opens her eyes to find Edward.

Hermione looks to see that Emmet and Carlisle are holding back Jasper, Bella shouting at him to calm down. Hermione makes eye contact with Jasper and suddenly, he stops fighting. His eyes fill with utter shock and he falls to his knees. "Hermione," he chokes. "I'm so sorry!"

Hermione turns her head away and buries her head into Edward's shirt, letting the tears flow. Something begins to stir within her. It's a feeling. A feeling of... Calmness. Hermione fights against it, knowing Jasper is trying to use his power's on her, but there is nothing she can do and she is forced to give into the feeling. Her body relaxes and the pain is numbed away. Before the witch knows it, she is asleep.


	5. Easing the Tension

**~*5*~**

**Easing the Tension**

Hermione feels groggy.

Her eyes feel glued shut. She manages to unstick them and finds herself in her bed. Carlisle is putting away supplies, Ginny was asleep on a cot on the floor, while Embry stood at the window, often glancing to Ginny. Hermione sits up slowly, her head feeling fogged up. Carlisle looks over and smiles gently. "How are you feeling?"

Hermione shrugs, not feeling much pain. "Don't feel much." she reports.

Ginny suddenly shoots up, her eyes wide. Embry jumps halfway into the air, his eyes wide. "Hermione!" screams Ginny, nearly throwing herself onto Hermione. Luckily, Carlisle manages to snag her midair before she could touch Hermione. "Be careful!" he orders strictly but with a friendly twinkle in his eye.

Ginny sits down on the side of the bed, looking worried, "I was so freaked out when Jasper attacked you!"

Hermione nods slowly. "He was just angry. He blames me for what happens to Alice. Personally, I don't blame him," she says, licking her lips.

Carlisle pours a cup of water and hands it to the witch, "That is still no excuse."

Hermione shrugs and quickly gulps down the water. Carlisle also sits down on her bed, "Your elbow is broken and your shin has horrible bruising. You can walk on it, but try to refrain from it as much a possible," he advises. He pauses for a moment. "Jasper feels horrible."

Hermione, who had been examining her leg bandage and cast, looks up, "Really, I don't blame him. Yes, he hurt me, but if the person I loved had just been murdered, I probably would have done the same thing."

"He visited you often when you were asleep. He was working with your emotions, trying to make sure while I worked on you, you were as calm as possible," Carlisle explains, standing and walking over to his supplies.

Once again, Hermione shrugs, not really caring. She really didn't know what to think about Jasper at the moment. Yes, he had attacked her, but he was angry. Also, he had saved her life yesterday. Hermione decided not to jump to any conclusions about the handsome vampire yet. "Come Embry, let's give the girls some alone time," Carlisle says.

Embry nods, casts a long glance at Ginny, before following the vampire out. As soon as they were gone, Hermione leans forward with a smirk, "What's with the hot werewolf following your every move?"

Ginny rolls her eyes and huffs over to the window. "Oh please, Hermione. He's just a friend."

Hermione laughs. "Do friends look at you as if you are the world to them?" Ginny narrows her eyes. "He could've imprinted on you," Hermione says smartly, getting up from her bed and limping to her closet.

Ginny's eyes grow wide. She glances to the door and she slaps her forehead. "Merlin! I sure hope not! We have to leave in sixth months!"

Hermione laughs from her closet, her voice traveling to Ginny's ears. "Six months is a lot of time," she says knowingly.

Ginny rolls her eyes and flops down on Hermione's bed, her face buried in the messed up sheets. "We're friends," she states flatly, but doubt floats in her voice.

Hermione smirks and leans out of the closet, wiggling her eyebrow. "With benefits?" and for that, a pillow is chunked at her face.

_GgGgGgGg_

As the days roll on, the tension seems to fade away. The witches slowly become accustomed to the lives of the vampires and werewolves, getting accustomed to their schedules. Jake has been working to open his own car shop and it was actually suppose to open this week. When that day came, Jake asks Ginny and Hermione if they would like to help out. Ginny agrees immediately and Hermione only agrees after a thumbs up from Carlisle.

The day of the opening, Ginny and Hermione were getting ready. They had their bikini's on with tank top and shorts over them. Ginny sticks her hair up in a high ponytail while Hermione does a cute messy bun. Her shin is pretty much healed but it still has a pretty nasty bruise. The cast is still on her elbow however, but Carlisle said it was alright to get it a little wet.

"It's gonna be fun today," Ginny assures from where she is looking at herself in the mirror. "Something fun for once," she turns and sighs dramatically as Hermione tucks her wand into the waistband of her shorts, "Mione, when was the last time you had actual fun?"

Hermione thinks for a moment. "The company christmas party."

Ginny's eyes widen. She walks over and hugs Hermione gently. "Well, I'm glad you get today to let loose."

A car horn honks outside. Ginny squeals and scuttles down the stairs, Hermione following slowly. Esme hugs the girls before the leave with friendly smiles. It is actually sunny outside today, so the Cullen's are practically confined to the house. Jake and Embry with Seth in the trunk are waiting outside in a truck. Seth waves with his goofy smile. Ginny and Hermione smile back at him. Seth was always watching over the girls, like a little brother would.

"Hello ladies," says Jake as the climb into the truck. "Are you ready for a good time?"

"No." replies Ginny playfully in a monotone voice.

Embry smiles back at her. "Why in such a bad mood, Gin Bug?"

Ginny rolls her eyes. Thanks to Emmet calling her that name, everyone now calls her that. She protests as much as possible but now has simply realized protesting is fruitless.

Soon, they arrive at Jake's car shop he had named Greasy Wolves. "Nice names." comments Ginny with a smirk.

Jake laughs. All of the pack was there. Emily was coordinating everything, trying to direct the boys who were throwing wet, soapy rags and sponges at each other. "Boys, please!" she was yelling, flailing her arms around everywhere.

Kim, Jared's imprint, rushes in and grabs Jared and he immediately stops. Ginny laughs at this. "All of you wolves need to get imprints. They rule you like no other."

This makes Jared frown and Kim laugh. Jared winks at Embry. "Your next." and Embry quickly shuffles away quickly, looking embarrassed.

"Boys, common work with me!" Emily was whining to the remaining boys.

Sam comes up and yells. "HEY!" and at once, they all freeze. This makes Ginny, Hermione, and Kim giggle. Emily then begins reading over the schedule. The first shift belongs to Hermione, Ginny, Embry, Seth, Kim, and Jared. Everyone else continues on with their water battle.

Cars start pulling up to get washed. Collin and Brady are down the street, bouncing around holding signs and acting like their goofy selves. Ginny, Hermione, Seth, and Embry decide to take down a huge red truck. Ginny was bending over and scrubbing underneath the mirrors when she felt something cold and wet slap her back. Spinning around, she finds Paul standing right behind her, eyes wide, his arm frozen in a throwing position. Right beside Ginny, Quil was dying with laughter.

Ginny narrow her eyes. Slowly, she bends down and picks up the bucket she had been using and slowly saunters over to Paul with a smirk. "Oh no..." says Paul, backing up and holding his arms out.

Ginny flings the bucket at him and the water flies out, but the werewolves ducks and the water doses... Hermione. The witch screams and drops her rag in shock. Ginny grabs her mouth in shock, while Paul and Quil were rolling on the ground with laughter. Hermione raises an eyebrow at Ginny, and in seconds she chunks her soapy rag at her red haired friend. Ginny instinctively ducks and the rag... Slams into the back of Seth's neck.

That is when all hell breaks loose.

Soap and water begins to fly everywhere. Embry and Jared soon join, quickly followed by Collin and Brady who abandon their signs by the street. Kim and Emily take shelter inside, giggling and watching. Jake comes out of nowhere and dumps a huge bucket of water on Ginny, completely dosing her. Ginny screams. Angered, she tears off her tank top and begins to chase Jake around in her bikini top. This gets many looks from the other wolves, especially Embry who freezes when Ginny runs past, watching with huge eyes.

Hermione and Ginny then cheat and uses their wands to send a huge flow of water at the boys. "CHEAT!" they scream.

Seth runs up and throws Hermione over his shoulder and runs into the car wash. "Turn it on, Jake!"

Jake, who is hiding behind a van, peeks up and smirks at Ginny who chunks a rag at him. "Embry, grab her!"

Before Ginny knows what is happening, Embry comes up behind her, grabs her by the waist and swings her cleanly onto his shoulder and runs into the car wash. Ginny and Hermione kick and scream as Jake cheekily turns on the car wash. Soap and water pelt the two wolves and the witches. Embry secures his big hands on Ginny's waist so she can't escape. Seth and Hermione get lost in all the pink and blue soap, so Ginny can only see Embry.

She squeezes her eyes shut so that no soap will get inside. She feels slightly insecure with Embry's hands secured on her waist, but a small part of her doesn't mind. She actually feels safe. Finally, Ginny can hear the beeping that signals the soap process is over. The water begins to spray her and Ginny squeaks and jumps. It is cold!

"Cold?" asks Embry gently.

Ginny nods and smiles up at him. "Yeah, a little."

Slowly, Embry pulls Ginny close. For a moment, Ginny resists, then slowly allows Embry to pull her into a hug. His chest is so warm... Ginny shivers, but not from the cold. His arms are secure around her back and Ginny can't help but to hug him back, her hands immediately warming up against his back. Finally, the car wash is over. But Embry doesn't pull away, he simply continues holding onto her. Ginny awkwardly pulls away but he still doesn't let go. "Embry, it's over."

"Oh." he mumbles, looking embarrassed.

Ginny has to hold back a sigh when Embry lets go of her. Ginny is suddenly attacked by Hermione, who is giggling like a mad woman. "That was awesome!" she laughs.

Ginny smiles and nods. She turns back but finds Embry laughing with Jared and Quil, so Ginny immediately looks away, not noticing right after she looks away, Embry looks to her, making sure that she was safe and sound.


	6. Breakeven

I am so sorry I haven't updated! I just haven't had any ideas! Short chapter too, sorry!

**~*6*~**

**Breakeven**

Hermione is awoken by the sound of an owl hooting.

Looking toward her window, she smiles when she sees Harry's owl, Haelwan, and immediately gets up and takes the piece of parchment in his beak. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, she turns on the muggle lamp and opens the letter and carefully reads over it.

_Hermione,_

_Sorry we haven't talked in a while. My job has kept my busy, as I know your's has kept you occupied as well._

_America? That's very impressive. Take care of yourself and try not to fall in love with any vamps or werewolves while you are across the pond. Ron hides it very well, but he still has feelings for you, as you obviously still have some for him. Yes, you both agreed it wasn't going to work, but still, you still care for each other. To what extent I am clueless, but Ron is always comparing you to the other women at work. Saying things such as; "Hermione could do that better," or ," Hermione use to say," and further more. _

_Enough about Ron. How are you personally? You mentioned the nightmares in your last letter, and yes I have them. I am not trying to push you away, but since the war I have been trying to push away everything that had to do with it. I'm sorry if you were one of those things. I have nightmares every night, but lately they have worsened. Ron can occur with me. _

_So this might be an awkward question, but how is Ginny? I hate to admit it, but I miss her. A lot. Can you please tell her to owl me? _

_Anyways, that's all for now. Owl me back, I miss you._

_Hope your enjoying America._

_-Harry_

Hermione couldn't help but to smile. She misses her best friend. Putting the letter on her nightstand, she waves Haelwan off of the window before trying to go back to sleep.

But sleep doesn't come easily.

_Hermione is running through the halls of Hogwarts. The roof is crumbling above her, sending rocks of cement crashing down around her. Screams are all Hermione can hear, but one scream is louder and more distinct than the others._

_"HERMIONE!"_

_Hermione runs faster toward the scream. Her neck is bleeding profusely, turning her shirt red. Dirt and grim cover her usually beautiful features. Her hair is in a matted braid to the side. Gripping her wand, she turns the corner to the Great Hall and skids to a painful stop._

_Voldemort, very much alive, is standing in the middle of the Great Hall. Bodies of Hermione's friends are laying around him. Ron, Fred, George, Molly, Arthur, Neville, Luna, and many more. Death eaters surround him, all smirking and laughing at Hermione. Hermione doesn't notice them however, her eyes are focused on the body Voldemort has in his grasp and has a knife to it's throat._

_It's a little girl Hermione doesn't recognize. She has a soft brown color for her hair and deep honey brown eyes that resembled the Cullen's. She is extremely pale and dirtied. The knife is gently cutting into her skin, making a small stream of blood flow down her shirt. The little girl opens her mouth and lets out a horrible scream. It's so bloodcurdling that Hermione slaps her hands over her ears. Even Voldemort yells in shock. The next thing that happens surprises Hermione._

_The little girl leans forward, her eyes digging into Hermione's. "You must keep me safe! Promise! Keep me safe! Don't leave!" suddenly her demeanor becomes serious. "And I will keep you safe as well."_

_Hermione nods slowly. "I promise!" even though she doesn't even know the girl._

_The little girl nods slowly, and a beautiful smile crosses her face. Hermione looks upwards and sees a huge chandelier hanging right above Voldemort. Shooting a spell up at it, the chain holding it breaks and it tumbles down toward the evil wizard. Voldemort yells and jumps out of the way, leaving the little girl right underneath the chandelier. Her eyes dig into Hermione's soul. "You promised!" she screams._

_Hermione runs toward the little girl and pushes her out of the way. The chandelier crashes down on top of her. The pain is horrible. Hermione screams..._

And wakes up.

GgGgGgGgGg

"What's this?" asks Ginny, picking up a large metal object in the corner of Jake's toolbox.

Jake looks up from the car he is working on. He chuckles gently. "A wrench, which I could use right now."

Ginny eyes it curiously as she walks over to Jake and hands him the mysterious "wrench." Jake chuckles again before ducking back under the car. Ginny looks over just in time to sweep Reneseme away from what Jake calls a "drill". "Jake, the point of babysitting is to _watch _the baby." Ginny lectures, leaning against the tool table.

Jake laughs. "I need to finish this truck and then I will."

Ginny smiles gently at Renesme as she begins playing with her hair. "So, how does this imprinting thing work? Like, it's kinda creepy for you and Renesme cause she's like..."

Jake slid out from under the truck. "I can be anything that she wants me to be. A friend, a lover, a brother. Anything."

Ginny nods slowly, relieved. "Good." she sets the vampire hybrid down. "Cause that sort of creeped me out."

Jake smiles and nods. He wipes the grease from his hands and swoops Renesme out of Ginny's grasp. She laughs a musical laugh that makes Ginny smile warmly, but she can still not get over the coldness of their skin. Ginny couldn't handle hugging and touching someone so cold. Warm bodies. Alive bodies are the ones Ginny's prefers and without realizing it, her mind drifts to Embry. Without thinking, she asks. "Where's Embry?"

At once, Jake's face turned upwards and Ginny immediately regretted saying it. "Someone likes Embry!" he howls, dancing around the garage.

Ginny turns bright red, matching her hair. "N... NO!" she protests, chasing after Jake.

Jake laughs like a maniac and runs around the garage, yelling. "GINBUG LOVES EMBRY!" with a laughing Renesme swung over his huge shoulder.

Ginny grabs a towel and throws it at Jake. "Jake, no I don't!"

Jake leans across the hood with a smirk. "Does he make you have butterflies?" he gushes in his best girl voice. Ginny begins to chase him again, but he doesn't stop there. "Ohmygod Hermione, Embry is sooooo hot! I just wanna go up to him right now and just start making out. Mmmmm run my fingers through his hair..."

"Uhhhh, hey guys."

Jake and Ginny freeze. They both turn slowly to see none other than Embry standing in the garage, looking slightly embarrassed.

HhHhHhHh

"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" shouts Ginny, pacing around Hermione's room like a manic.

Hermione, who is writing Harry back on her bed, absentmindedly listens to Ginny's rantings. "He just starts ranting about things that I don't feel when Embry comes into the garage!"

Hermione looks up at her friend. "Why are you freaking out if the feelings jake was expressing aren't real?"

Ginny freezes for a moment. "Well... I don't wanna give Embry the wrong idea!"

Just then, a huge rock came crashing through the closed window, shattering the glass. Hermione stands angrily. "Again!" she shouts, grabbing her wand.

As she fixes the window, Ginny leans out to see Jake, dressed in a tux, standing at the bottom of the window. In one hand he has a piece of paper and in the other he has a bouquet of flowers while Reneseme dances around him, throwing rose petals. Ginny narrows her eyes. Jake clears his throat and begins reading off of the paper. "Ginny, my dearest best friend who is a wizard, I do not like the fact that you are mad at me. So I am here, pledging my friendship to thou Ginny Weasley, asking her to be my best friend once again." he says, adding a dashing smile at the end.

Ginny narrows her eyes. "Try again!" she snaps, slamming the window Hermione just fixed closed.

Hermione is back on her bed, writing. Ginny sits down in front of her cross legged and frowns. "Who are you writing to?"

Hermione looks up slowly. "Harry." she replies softly.

Ginny looks angered for a moment, but it disappears and it replaces sadness. "How is he?"

"Good, actually." replies Hermione, leaning over to the nightstand and handing Ginny Harry's letter. "Working, just like us."

Ginny scans over the letter and smiles. "Ron does talk about you a lot in his letters." she chuckles, but her smile disappears when she gets to the part about her. "He misses me?" she asks softly.

Hermione looks up and sighs. "Ginny..."

Her face grows hard. "I don't miss him." she huffs, handing Hermione back the letter abruptly. Hermione took it back gently, looking at Ginny with a concerned expression. Ginny sighs and curls into a protective ball. This always happens right before a breakdown. She begins to shake gently, so Hermione digs out a Calming Candy and hands it to Ginny who gratefully pops it into her mouth. A couple minutes later, the shaking has stopped and Ginny slowly eases out of her ball.

Silence encases the room for a while. Finally, Ginny speaks. "I really like it here. It's so calming. Instead of my heart breaking with every little thing back home, my heart isn't breaking in different, jagged directions. It's breaking even." Ginny smiles a small smile. "Maybe it'll be glued together."

Hermione looks up at Ginny and smiles. "I really hope so."

Right then, the same rock come crashing through the window. Hermione groans. "Really!" Ginny laughs and walks to the window. Now, the entire wolfpack is outside, all dressed in tuxes, and are singing very badly a song that Jake is directing.


	7. I'll Let You In

**~*7*~**

**I'll Let You In**

"So, how does this work?" asks Hermione with a frown.

"It's actually very simple." explains Emmet. In one hand he holds a bottle of vodka. Everyone in the circle had a shot glass. He takes each one of their glasses and fills it up. "Here's an example." he lifts up his shot glass. "I have never kissed a man." Rosalie and Bella drink their shots and hold them out for more. "You drink if you have." Emmet explains to the wizards, filling up Rosalie's and Bella's cups.

Hermione nods slowly. Ginny eagerly sticks out her empty cup. "Edward's turn." she announces.

Edward smirks. Their drinking circle consists of the two witches, Bella and Edward, Rosalie and Emmet, Seth, Edward, Embry, and Carlisle. "I have never... Worn pink."

Everyone but Emmet, Jake, and Carlisle drank. "Such a lie!" Bella scolds, nearly forcing Edward's alcohol down his mouth. "I didn't say it ways." Edward laughs, sipping his vodka.

Jake looks accusingly at Seth. "I knew you were gay." he laughs, earning a rough punch.

"Are you old enough to drink alcohol?" laughs Hermione.

"My mom doesn't need to know." Seth mumbles.

"Alright, Rosalie." says Emmet, looking lovingly at his wife.

Rosalie thinks for a moment, then smirks. "I've never gone around Forks drunk, in my underwear, screaming about poisonous bumble bees." Everyone frowns at this. Slowly and angrily, Emmet lifts his drink up and sloshes it down. Everyone immediately dies laughing. "Hey, I was drunk!" Emmet tries to defend himself.

Bella was next. "I have never... Played strip poker."

Rosalie and Emmet immediately drink to this, then giggle to each other. Carlisle also drinks to this, along with a very red Seth and Jake. Ginny drinks to this as well. This gets a gasp of shock from Hermione and a look of utter horror from Embry. Ginny giggles. "Blaise Zambini, hun. He was a good looking child." the red head giggles. Hermione however looks horrified while Embry smirks, already having images in his head.

Seth was next. He stays quiet for a moment. "I have never killed anyone." he says. He looks up at everyone. "Vampires don't count because they are already dead."

No one drinks at first, then slowly all the vampires besides Bella raise their glasses and drink. None of the wolves drink to this. Ginny and Hermione glance at each other and slowly, raise their glasses and slosh it down as well. Everyone is surprised by this. "You've both killed someone?" asks Seth.

"We've killed many people." Hermione explains. "We were in a war."

"A war?" asks Jake, frowning.

"Did you not hear about it?" asks Ginny with a surprised facial expression.

"We don't exactly keep up with the wizarding world." Carlisle explains, very interested with this war subject. "What was the war for?"

Hermione and Ginny glance at each other, and Ginny nods for Hermione to explain the story. So Hermione begins, starting with Harry's parents getting murdered, and ended with Harry killing Voldemort. Ginny had teared up a little bit during the story, especially about the battle, but manages not to allow a tear to fall. Once the story was finished, the buzzing in everyone's head from the alcohol was completely gone.

"I am so sorry you both had to go through that kind of thing." Carlisle finally manages.

Everyone nods in agreement. Hermione nods. "Well, we are fine."

No one believed that.

GgGgGgGgGg

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Ginny!" calls a voice.

Ginny rolls over in bed, growling at the unseen voice to go away.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Ginny! Do you want me to throw bigger rocks?"

Ginny groans. Standing up, she walks to her window and yanks it open. Standing underneath it is Embry, holding a handful of small rocks. He smiles nervously. "Uh.. Hey."

Ginny narrows her eyes and leans tiredly against the window. "You woke me up at.." she glances at the clock. "Two in the morning to say hey?" she asks tiredly.

"Actually, no." replies Embry. "I was wondering if you wanted to hangout."

Ginny rubs her eyes. "At two in the morning?"

Embry looks flustered. "I can come back later." he offers, already backing up.

"No, no!" replies Ginny. "Now that I'm awake, sure." Embry smiles happily. "Give me two minutes!" Ginny orders before disappearing back inside her room.

GgGgGgGgGg

"This is where you wanted to hangout? Why didn't you just tell me?"

Embry smiles goofily. "I wanted it to be a surprise."

Ginny is standing on a cliff that overlooks the ocean. Embry smiles at her and spreads out a blanket and sets down a basket filled with fruit and two thermos's. Ginny smiles. "Coffee?" Embry nods and smiles. Ginny flops down onto the blanket and snatches up a strawberry before popping it into her mouth. She searches through the basket. "All kinds of colorful fruits." she said with a smile.

"Everyone loves fruit." Embry says knowingly, picking up one of the thermos's and taking a long swig. "So, Ginny." he turns and lays on his side. "How old are you, exactly?"

Ginny laughs softly. Fishing out a mango, she nibbles on it. "I'm eighteen. Not too old."

Embry blinks in surprise. "So you would be a senior in highschool?"

Ginny shrugs. "I guess. I don't really know muggle school terms." she explains.

Embry nods and smiles. "So, we are the same age."

Ginny blinks in surprise. She would've never guessed Embry was eighteen. He looks much older because of his muscles. "You should enroll at my school." he suggests, biting into an apple.

Ginny snorts and tosses the remaining mango off of the cliff. "Eight ours of learning useless muggle knowledge that I don't need to know?" she smiles. "I'll pass."

"Nah, common it'll be fun!" he suggests. "School starts up in a couple weeks, and you would be able to study the pack during school. Plus," he pauses and winks. "You will get to see me."

Ginny laughs and rolls her eyes. "I'll think about it."

They sit there in a moment of relaxed silence, sipping on their coffee when Embry breaks the silence. "What do you think of Forks and La Push?"

"Oh, it's great." Ginny gushes, a sarcastic ring in her voice. "It's just peachy. My best friend falls out of a window, we got attacked by evil vampires demons, Alice is murdered, I had an embarrassing mental breakdown in front of you and Jake, and then Jasper attacked Hermione and then just disappears off of the face of the planet when she wakes up. Yeah, it's been amazing." Ginny soon realizes she is rambling so she stops there.

Embry looks concerned throughout her ramblings, but at the end he flashes a cheeky smile. "So you like it?"

Ginny snorts. "Totally."

Embry eats a strawberry and throws the top over the cliff. "Jake told me that the leeches are worried about you and your friend. Apparently, when y'all sleep you will just start... _Screaming_. Like someone is murdering you."

Ginny, who is in the middle of drinking a large swig of coffee, nods slowly. "Yeah. Back home, Bill said we had posttraumatic stress disorder." when Embry raised his eyebrow, Ginny explains. "It's where when you go through some psychological trauma and you have flashbacks or nightmares concerning to what happened to you. Bill believes we got it from the war." Ginny shrugs. ''Everyone around my age that survived the war has it, including Hermione, but she refuses to accept it. I use to be like her, but I'm realizing it's true faster than she does."

Embry nods slowly. "What do you see in your nightmares?"

Ginny stays quiet for a long moment, loosing interest in the kiwi she had. Setting it down, she takes in a deep breath. "It's different things, but they all repeat. They won't go away. Mostly, it's of my brother Fred.." she stops for a moment. Embry reaches forward and takes her hands into his, looking deep into her eyes, not asking her to continue, but saying it was alright to continue. And Ginny does continue. "Like, I'll be chasing him around the castle, having to kill countless people, even my friends to get to him, and when I finally catch up to him, he gets killed anyway by Voldemort and he.. He dies in my arms."

Embry frowns. "Ginny, you shouldn't be having dreams like that."

Ginny shrugs and tries to pull away, but Embry holds her hands tightly. "I'm fine." she mutters.

He shakes his head slowly. "No, your not." he brushes a piece of hair from her face. "But I wanna help you be fine."

HhHhHhHh

Hermione could smell the rain through her open window. Smiling triumphantly, she quickly threw on a large hoodie and some shorts, grabs her book, and runs outside and sits down in a chair on the Cullen's front porch. No one was home at the moment. Hermione loves to sit outside and read while it's raining. It relaxes her. She opens the muggle book Ginny gave to her to read, _The Lucky One, _and becomes lost in it.

What she doesn't notice is the person who walks up onto the porch, soaking wet, and leans against the post. "Nice storm." he says.

Hermione nearly jumps out of her skin. Looking up, her eyes narrow and grow dark. "What do you want?" she demands, recognizing him from a couple days ago. She stares into his blood red eyes, trying to not act like they reminded her of someone else.

Alec smirks. "It's nice to see you again as well." he walks toward Hermione, and immediately she takes out her wand and holds it steadily in her hand. Alec raises his hands. "I'm not going to hurt or touch you. I just came to talk." he said simply,. He reaches over and takes one of the chairs nearby and sits down in it, his gaze never averting Hermione's.

"Talk?" Hermione asks, sounding unconvinced.

"Yes, talk." Alec replies flatly. He leans forward, resting his forearms against his legs. "How are you, Hermione?"

Hermione begins to become worried. "How do you know my name?" she whispers.

Alec smiles a stunning smile. "The Volturi knows everyone, my lovely." Hermione narrows her eyes. Alec chuckles and leans back. "I am sorry, I am being extremely rude. My name is Alec." he stuck his hand out, and Hermione withdrew, looking like a scared child. "There is no reason to be scared, Hermione." Alec assures in such a charming voice, Hermione couldn't help but to reach her hand out and shake his icy hand.

Alec smiles and for some reason, Hermione suddenly feels safe. This worries her, so she quickly pulls away and folds her arms. "Well, what do you want to talk about?" she demands icily.

Alec shrugs. "Anything, really. I just came her because I want to be your friend."

Hermione blinks in surprise. "Friends?" she scowls. "You killed Alice. How could I be your friend?"

Alec chuckles. "Ah, well don't you remember, love? I tried to stop my sister, but being her stubborn self, Jane didn't stop."

Hermione's mind retraces that day and she realizes he is telling the truth. She vaguely remembers seeing him running at Jane, yelling at her to stop, but Alice was already ahead of him, and Jane killed her. "I remember." Hermione mumbles.

"You see? All Volturi aren't that bad." Alec says, smiling a gorgeous smile that makes Hermione's back tingle.

Hermione sighs. "What do you really want, Alec?" she is getting tired of this little game he has going on.

Alec's face grows serious. "Hermione, you are ill. Not like sick ill, but mentally ill. The first time I saw you, I could see it in your eyes." he slowly reaches forward and places his cold hand on Hermione's arm. She doesn't draw away, which makes Hermione extremely angry at herself, but she can't pull away. "I want to help you, love. I wanna be here for you." suddenly, he freezes and pulls away. "Someone is coming. I have to go." he stands and turns to leave.

_No. _Hermione thinks helplessly. She flies up, her eyes frantic. "Wait!" Alec turns back around. "Come to my room tonight at eleven."

Alec smiles. "I'll be there." and then he takes off and is gone.

Hermione immediately sits down, like her legs cannot hold her up. _What am I doing? His people killed Alice! _But for some reason, Hermione believes Alec was sincere with what he was saying, and she wanted to get to know him better. Suddenly, another shape walks onto the porch. Hermione's breath gets caught in her throat and she slowly stands, her eyes wide.

"Jasper?" she gasps, eyes wide.


	8. Befriending the Enemy

**~*8*~**

**Befriending the Enemy**

Hermione's skin is on fire.

She runs her hands through her wet hair, letting the scalding water scorch her skin, turning it red. It stings, but Hermione didn't mind. She loves the water boiling hot. It melts all of the stress out of her body, and right now, she needs that desperately.

_Am I stupid? _she thinks to herself angrily as she rubs shampoo into her hair. _I just invited a Volturi member into my room tonight, and right after he leaves, Jasper shows up! If he finds out Alec was here and is coming back tonight, he would probably brutally kill Alec and make me watch, and then snap my neck. _Hermione freezes. _Oh no...Alec can't come! Jasper will kill him!_

But there was no turning back now.

After climbing out of the shower, drying herself, and putting on her clothes, Hermione immediately escapes to her room. Closing her door, she turns and puts a Silencing Charm over the door and a barrier so no one could intrude. Glancing at the clock, Hermione sees it was 10:30PM. Slightly nervous, Hermione reads over Harry's letter again. She gets lost in thought for a long time, but a soft knocking interrupts her thoughts.

Hermione turns and sees Alec on her windowsill. Hermione quickly walks over and opens the window, and the graceful vampire swoops in. "Your early." replies Hermione, trying to seem angry and fails miserably.

Alec chuckles and pulls a chair by the vanity over and sits in front of Hermione's bed. "I apologize."

Hermione smiles and sits down on her bed in front of him. "So, Jasper's back." she says, trying to make conversation.

Alec nods. "Yes, I smelled him coming." a moment of silence. "Did he hurt you again?"

"What?" Hermione asks in shock. "No... How did you know about that?"

"The Volturi knows everything." replies Alec simply. His face suddenly grows serious. "Hermione, if he ever hurts you again, I might do something."

Hermione blinks in surprise. "Like?"

Alec looks down. "Let's just say he might end up the same way as Alice..."

Hermione's eyes fly open. "Alec! No!" Alec holds up his hands. Hermione narrows her eyes. "Why do you care so much about me, anyways?"

Alec says quiet for a moment. "Because I know everything about you, and I know you _need_ someone to take care of you."

Hermione backs up a little bit on her bed. ''You don't know me." she scowls.

Alec chuckles. "I know more about you than you think."

"Try me." Hermione orders, her face stone cold.

Alec sighs. "Alright then, you wanna play that game, _let's_ play that game." He leans forward, his eyes digging into Hermione's. "Let me just tell you, it's going to be _very_ painful, and your not going to like it." Hermione shrugs.

Alec nods. "Alright then. Your name is Hermione Jean Granger. You are muggle born, an only child. Both of your parents are dead, killed by angry Deatheaters after the war to get to last minute revenge." Hermione's eyes flicker with pain, but it was only there momentarily. "You work for the Worldwide Magical Corporation. You are the best friend of Harry Potter, who killed Voldemort during the battle." Alec leans in closer, but Hermione doesn't flinch. "You dated Ronald Weasley after the battle for about a month, then called it off. There was too much _pain_ based off of the relationship, and you felt like you could take care of yourself." Alec blinks gently. "You were _wrong_."

Hermione blinks quickly, trying to hide the oncoming tears. "Shall I continue? I am going to go into the deeper things" asks Alec. When Hermione nods, he continues. "You killed many people during the war, and for every life you took, a piece of you _died_ on the inside, leaving behind a little soul that was so _exposed_ to the dangerous, heartbreaking elements, it turned you into this stone cold, heartless woman who _can't even_ deal with her emotions the correct way."

Hermione narrows her eyes into slits. Alec leans forward and takes her arm. Slowly, he rolls up her longsleeved T-shirt to reveal scars all over her wrist. Hermione immediately jerks away, her eyes wide. "How did you..." she whispers, cutting off at the end.

"Like I told you, I know more than you think." Alec replies gently.

Hermione blinks softly, a solitary tear falling from her eye. "Please, can you stop? I... I know your telling the truth when you said you know me."

Alec nods. "I'll stop."

Hermione nods thankfully, glad that it was over. "I... I am going to go to bed."

Alec nods. Hermione slowly crawls into bed. Alec stands and turns off the lamp for her. Hermione snuggles into her bed. Alec sits on the edge of her bed and gently pushes a stray piece of hair from her face. "Goodnight, Hermione." he whispers, and immediately, the witch falls asleep.

_*FlAsHbAcK*_

_"Right this way, Ms. Weasley." said the nurse with a overly nice smile. _

_"How is he?" asked Ginny worriedly, walking quickly beside the quick paced witch._

_"Well, it's a miracle he is alive. We managed to save him before he died however." the nurse assured Ginny gently. "Thank Merlin someone saw him jump."_

_Ginny sighed and ran her hand through her hair. The nurse slowed down in front of a cracked open door. "He's right inside, Ms. Weasley." the nurse smiled. "I'll give you both some alone time." she said before she hurried off again._

_Ginny stared weakly at the doorknob. Gulping, she reached forward and pushed the door open. Her heels made clicking noises as she entered the room. Immediately, she shut the door behind herself. She stood up straight and smoothed down her shirt. Her eyes laid on the person laying in the cot and immediately, her calm demeanor dissolved away. "Why did you jump?" she asked softly, walking over and setting her purse down on the end of the bed, trying to act strong._

_"You know why, Ginny." replied George groggily. _

_Ginny walked over to the window and stared out for a moment. "No, I actually don't." she whispered._

_George scowled. "Don't play innocent with me, Ginny!" he growled. "You see him too! He follows you everywhere! I see it in the way you look at me!"_

_Ginny's nails began to dig into her wrist. She spun around to face George, her eyes blazing. "That doesn't mean I'm going to throw myself off of a bloody bridge!" she screamed at him._

_"I know about the car accident!" George shouted back. Ginny immediately began to cry. She sunk to the ground and buried her face in her hands. "It wasn't an accident at all!" George continued, not caring that his sister was crying. "I know that you want to die, just like me." George's voice had grown softer, and at the end of his sentence it faded down into a whisper._

_Ginny continued crying, her makeup running all down her face like a river. "That was... Months ago." she tried to explain._

_"I see the marks on your arm!" George was shouting again. "No one can get better that fast!"_

_Ginny let out a strangled scream. "What if I wanna be better?" she wailed, pulling on the ends of her hair. George's eyes softened. "What if, I'm tired of wanting to die? What if... What if I wanna let go of Fred?"_

_George suddenly looked extremely angry. "You can never let go of him!" he shouted._

_"HOW DO YOU KNOW?" wailed Ginny._

_"BECAUSE I HAVE TRIED!" George yelled._

_Ginny looked up helplessly at him. George was breathing heavily, and Ginny noticed a couple tears were falling from his eyes. She stared at him for a long moment. The pain was so evident in his eyes, so real, that it nearly broke Ginny's heart. Slowly and unsteadily, Ginny got up and grabbed her purse. "Well, I'm not you." she growled, before she turned and nearly sprinted out of the room._

_"YOU CAN'T UN AWAY FROM HIM! YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM THE PAIN!" George's voice encased Ginny's ears as she ran from the room._

_"WATCH ME!" screamed Ginny back, wanting to get as far away from George, and the pain, as possible._

_*eNd Of fLaShbAcK*_

Ginny throws her legs up onto Embry's dashboard and smiles over at him. They are heading back to the Cullen's. A steady rain begins to fall from the sky and Ginny sticks her arm out of the window, loving the rain. Embry looks over and chuckles at her. Like a dog, Ginny sticks her head out of the window and lets the rain fall on her face. A movement on the street catches her eye. Looking forward, everything around Ginny seems to stop.

Standing in the middle of the road is someone who died last year. Standing in the middle of the road is someone who nearly drove Ginny insane. Standing in the middle of the road is someone who haunts Ginny's dreams every night, and makes her wake up screaming for a savior.

Standing in the middle of the road is Fred Weasley.

Ginny screams bloody murder and flies back into the car. "STOP! STOP!" she screams.

Embry's eyes grow wide. Immediately, he slams on the breaks. The truck screeches to a stop on the rain, slick road. Ginny throws open the door and jumps out. "FRED! FRED!" she screams, running out in front of the car.

It was like he was right there, like he was actually still alive. He smiles. "Hello, Ginny. Miss me?" he asks with a smirk.

Ginny's eyes grow wide. "No.." she whispers. She begins to back up. "I'm... I'm not crazy..." she whispers.

Fred smiles and holds out his hand. "No, your not little sister. Now, take my hand like you use to."

Ginny stares at Fred's hand for a moment before uncontrollable fear takes over. "No... GET AWAY!" she screams. She begins to run backwards, but the slips and falls on the road. "GET AWAY!" she wails, shielding herself from him and squeezing her eyes shut. "I'M NOT CRAZY! YOU'RE DEAD! YOU'RE DEAD!" Ginny sobs.

"Ginny! Ginny!" says a familiar, soothing voice.

Ginny opens her eyes. Embry is kneeling beside her, looking at her with huge, scared him. "Ginny, it's okay. There's nothing on the road." he assures her gently.

Ginny's eyes float over to where Fred was standing in the road. He was no longer there. Ginny looks to Embry and throws her arms around him. "Please... I'm not crazy... I'm not crazy.." she whispers into his ear.

"Shhhh, it's okay." assures Embry gently. He scoops the tiny witch up into his arms and carries her back to the truck. He places her back in her seat. "It's okay Ginny, I gotcha." he assures her, buckling in her seatbelt.

Ginny looks once again back at the spot where Fred had been standing, but no one was there. _I'm not crazy. _Ginny assures herself.

_Are you sure about that? _asks a small voice in her mind.


	9. Research

Hey my readers! I am so sorry I haven't updated! I play tennis and recently I have been diagnosed with tennis elbow. What tennis elbow is, for those who are clueless, it when a tendon in or around my elbow tears. Mainly tennis players get this. It is very painful and I haven't been able to use my right arm for about a week, but since it is feeling better I'm doing something I shouldn't... I'm writing! My doc would kill me, but I feel the need to for y'all! Sorry about the wait!

**~*9*~**

**Research**

"School?" asks Hermione, slightly confused.

Ginny nods with a smile. "The wolves are going to be going back to school soon, and I want to observe them in their school life! It would be great research!"

Hermione nods and folds her arms. "Yes, but do you really want to spend eight hours a day in muggle school?"

Ginny shrugs. "I don't mind." she says with a smile.

Hermione winks. "Did Embry convince you do to this?"

Ginny rolls her eyes. The two witches are laying out on the beach as the wolves play football in the shallows of the water. The sun is bright and warm, tanning the witch's pale skin. Ginny stands up and runs back to the water. "I'm going!" she yells back, crashing into the water.

Hermione waves her hand, signaling that she doesn't really care. Her eyes return to her book for a moment, then flutter up to watch the wolves and Ginny in the water. Ginny is laughing, a big smile on her face. She jumps up and catches the football right before Embry caught it. Embry jumps at Ginny and tackles her into the water for the football, where the two wrestle playfully for it. Hermione feels something sad prick her heart, and she decides to head back home.

Throwing her cover up over her bikini, she picks up her towel and waves at Ginny. Ginny waves back with a giddy smile before she is tackled by Embry once again. Hermione walks into the forest, feeling out of place. She doesn't really fit in with the wolves. They are all goofy and crazy, like Ginny. Hermione fits in better with the Cullen's. But better with Alec than everyone. The talk they had in Hermione's room a couple night's ago made them extremely close, and now Alec visits her room every night and stays by her side until she falls asleep.

"Thinking about me?" asks a smooth, velvet voice.

Hermione smirks and turns around to see none other than Alec himself standing behind her. "You shouldn't be in the wolves territory. They can smell you."

Alec laughs gently. "Well, I'm not going to be here for long. Plus, your little charm is working wonderfully" he walks up to Hermione and takes her hands. "Can I take you to lunch?"

Hermione blinks in surprise. "Lunch? As in a date?"

Alec smiles. "No, just a get together as friends."

Hermione nods with a smile. "Sounds good to me. I wanna go change though."

_HhHhHhHh_

Quickly throwing on clothes, Hermione tries to leave the house as fast as possible. But as she is walking back down the steps, she accidentally bumps into Jasper. "Sorry." she apologizes quickly.

She tries to move past him but he stops her. He sighs nervously. "Hey, I just want to say that I'm sorry for attacking you."

Hermione shrugs. "It's okay. You were angry."

Jasper shakes his head. "That's not an excuse. So, to make up for it, can I take you to lunch?"

Hermione's eyes widen momentarily. "Uh, I'm going to lunch with Ginny." she lies. Seeing the sadness on his face, she quickly says, "Can we go for dinner?"

Jasper smiles, looking relieved. "Yeah, sure."

Hermione smiles before she walks away. Walking outside of the house, she walks in the forest, thinking about her situation. Does she feel anything for Jasper? Her feelings are very confused about Jasper. He seemed sincere with his apology, and apparently he cares about her because when she was knocked out he was using his powers to calm her down as Carlisle had been attending to her, but he was gone before Hermione woke up. He still seems pretty torn up about Alice, but seems to be hiding it pretty well. Yes, he is extremely attractive, but Hermione isn't in the mood for a relationship at the moment.

Plus, there was Alec in the picture. She wasn't exactly attracted to him, even though he was incredibly gorgeous. She thought of him as the brother she never had. A brother who would be killed by the people she lived with. How long will her No-Smell Charm work on the vampire until the Cullen's catch a whiff of him? Maybe Hermione should send him away, but just thinking about that, it hurt. She decides against it, not ready to send Alec away just yet.

Pretty soon, she is far into the forest. Looking around, she searches for her Volturi friend. There was a gentle whoosh behind her, and Alec brushes some hair off of her shoulder from behind. "What took you so long?" he whispers into her ear.

Hermione shivers and steps away, putting her hair back. "Nothing." she replies simply.

Alec sighs. "Oh Mione, I thought we were friends? Friends don't lie to each other." he says pointedly.

Hermione rolls her eyes. "I thought we were going to lunch?"

_HhHhHhHh_

Sooner than Hermione had expected, she is sitting at a small mexican restaurant not far out of La Push. "This place is cute." says Hermione, smiling politely at the elderly waitress as she sets down the menu's.

Alec smiles at Hermione then looks around. "Cute." he says. "Very good choice of words."

Hermione chuckles and opens the menu. Scanning through it, she talks to Alec as she does. "Are you going to get anything?"

Alec leans back in his seat. "Remember, Mione? I don't exactly eat." he says.

Hermione looks up, feeling stupid. "Oh, right." she says with a sheepish smile.

Alec smiles. "But I will be eating tonight, so I'm gonna be later than usually tonight for our talks before bed."

Hermione looks up and nods. "That's okay. Jasper asked me to dinner anyways."

Alec raises his eyebrow. "That's what you were lying to me about!" he exclaims, looking successful. Hermione smiles but doesn't say anything, too busy looking over the menu. "I mean, I don't mind." Alec replies simply. Hermione looks up with an raised eyebrow. He holds up his hands and smile his gorgeous smile. "I don't."

Hermione laughs and closes her menu. "It's like what we are doing now. A get together of friends."

Alec raises his eyebrow. "You have friends?" he says with a wink.

_HhHhHhHh_

When Hermione returns to her room, she is surprised to find Ginny waiting for her. "So, where were you?" asks Ginny.

Hermione frowns. "What?" she asks, closing the door behind her.

Ginny walks up to Hermione, looking curious. "Jasper came up to me fifteen minutes ago, asking where you were. When I said I didn't know, he said we had gone to lunch."

Hermione's eyes widened. "What did you tell him?"

Ginny smirks. "I told him we had gone to lunch, but after that I didn't know where you went." Hermione sighs, relieved. Ginny holds up her hand. "Don't be so relieved. I wanna know where you were."

Hermione immediately begins to scan her mind for excuses. Yes, Ginny was her best friend, but she couldn't tell her about Alec yet. She would flip. "I was reading a book. I just wanted some alone time."

Ginny raises her eyes and scans Hermione's eyes, then smiles. "Just tell me next time you use me for an excuse!" Ginny says, exiting the room and slamming the door behind her.

Hermione breathes out thankfully. _Thank Merlin Ginny can't tell I'm lying like Alec. _Deciding it was time to get ready, Hermione digs through her closet. She eventually picks out a cute, white lace top and a pair of orange shorts. She also steals a pair of Ginny's orange heels to match. Throwing on a touch of makeup and her hair up in a messy side braid, Hermione takes herself in. She looks very good. Glancing at the clock, she smiles.

She walks over and opens the door and jumps in surprise to see Jasper, holding his fist out to knock on the door. He jumps a little bit, looking sheepish. "Uh, hey. I was just about to knock."

Hermione smiles, taking him in. He is wearing a soft plaid blue shirt, and a pair of torn jeans. He looks plain, but extremely attractive, and Hermione's heart flutters. "It's okay." she says with a nervous smile.

Jasper takes Hermione in and smiles. "Wow, you look really... Nice."

Hermione smiles. "Thanks."

They stand there for an awkward moment before Hermione asks, "So, where are we going?"

_HhHhHhHh_

"This looks amazing." says Hermione as her plate of food is set down in front of her. She breathes in the smell of the cheesy pasta and looks up to see Jasper smiling at her. "Sorry." she apologizes with a sheepish smile.

"No, your fine darling." Jasper replies.

Hermione smiles and begins to eat. She wasn't very hungry because of lunch, but she still has an appetite. Jasper clears his throat and leans forward. "So, how is your research going?"

Hermione nods and swallows. "Very well actually."

Jasper nods. He suddenly looks awkward. "Did you put in your research that I attacked you?"

Hermione nods, her mouth full. Quickly, she takes her water and swallows it. "I have to out down everything that happens.''

Jasper nods, clearly not happy about that. He was about to say something else when his phone begins to ring. He takes it out and frowns. "It's Edward." he says, answering it and putting it to his ear. Hermione nods and continues eating. "Hello?" says Jasper. He stays silent, listening to Edward talk. Immediately, his face turns dark. "What? Where?" Hermione looks up with a frown. "Okay, we will be right there." he hangs up, looking worried. "It's Ginny." he says.

_GgGgGgGg_

_Ten Minutes Ago:_

"CARRY ME, BITCH!" yells Ginny, sticking out her arms.

Embry turns around hotly. He and Seth are patrolling the border in their wolf forms, and had invited Ginny to come. Now, they are most likely regretting it. "It's too late for physical movement! Carry me!" yells Ginny.

Embry growls. Walking over, he turns his back to Ginny, signaling for her to get on. Ginny smiles triumphantly. Crawling onto Embry's back, she buries her face into his fur and breathes in his wolf smell. Clenching her fingers in his fur, it doesn't take too long for his warmth to make her sleepy. She is nearly asleep when Seth's howl blasts into her ears. She shoots up angry. "SETH, I WAS ABOUT TO FALL ASLEEP!" she shouts, but immediately she realizes shouting is the wrong thing.

Two vampires zoom right past them. Embry howls and immediately takes off, forgetting he has Ginny on his back. "Shit!" screams Ginny, holding onto the wolf for dear life.

The wind is making Ginny's vision watery. She buries her face deep into his fur. The jerking movement from Embry running makes it hard for Ginny to hold on, and when Embry sharply turns, Ginny flies off of him. She screams and slams into the ground, rolling down the hill that just happened to be there. Ginny closes her eyes and she rolls down the mountain, shrieking as her body slams into things she can't see.

Finally, the ground evened out and Ginny slowly stopped rolling. Her arms and legs are burning. Slowly, she sits up and wails softly when she sees a large, red gash in her torn shirt. Sniffing, Ginny rose to her feet. She lifts up the bottom of her shirt and shrieks when she sees a large gash going down her stomach. She drops her shirt and cradles her scratched arms. Looking around nervously, she searches for any signs of Seth or Embry.

The sky was growing dark fast, and a gentle thunder booms overhead. Ginny turns in circles, hoping to find her wolves. They were nowhere to be seen. Gulping, she cries out. "EMBRY! SETH!"

There was no reply. A light rain begins to fall and Ginny flinches. Deciding to head back to the border and try to find her wolves, she crawls back up the hill painfully. Once she reaches the top, she dreadfully realizes she has no idea where the border is. Groaning, she simply begins trudging through the forest. The rain begins to come down harder, which angers Ginny further. She is about to start yelling for her wolves again when she sees something run in front of her.

She freezes. She couldn't really see through the rain, which was now coming down in buckets. "Hello?" she calls.

Suddenly, something grabs her shoulder. Ginny screams and spins around, only to find someone she didn't expect behind her. "Ginny! You need to run! Get out of here!" says the frantic Volturi guard that Ginny remembers from the time they came.

Ginny narrows her eyes and rips herself out of her grasp. "Your people killed Alice! Get away from me!"

His eyes, which are bright red, are huge. He reaches forward, but Ginny jumps away. "Ginny, you need to get out of here." he orders, looking scared out of his mind. "There are powerful, rogue vampires here, and they are hungry. You are the nearest living thing around here. They will kill you!"

"Get away from me!" yells Ginny, backing up.

Suddenly, something runs up and tackles the Volturi guard to the ground. Ginny gasps and backs up a little, eyes wide. A high pitched chuckle sounds from beside Ginny, and she shrieks, turning to see a ratty, blond looking vampire slinking up to Ginny. "Well, what do we have here?" she asks, her high pitched voice hurting Ginny's ears. She walks up to Ginny, picks up a strand of her hair, and sniffs it. Ginny flinches away and she laughs. "It's alright, we will make it quick." she promises, her eyes glowing bright red.

Suddenly, the Volturi guard manages to tear off the vampire's head that has him pinned. Flying up, he runs at the female vampire, who didn't expect it. She tries to jump at Ginny, but the Volturi guard catches her midair and tackles her to the ground. Ginny backs up, eyes wide.

"Ginny!" says a too familiar voice.

Ginny freezes all over. Slowly, she turns to see Fred crouching behind some bushes. His eyes are wide. "Ginny, come over and hide with me! Your in danger!"

Ginny's eyes travel to the aggressive fight taking place on the ground, and decides listening to her brother was the best idea. She sprints over to the bushes and ducks behind it beside Fred. They watch the fight. The female vampire was winning. At the moment, she has the Volturi guard pinned underneath her, straddling him. Ginny's eyes widen. "Ginny!" says Fred. He points at the rock under her foot. "Through the rock at her head!"

Ginny frowns at Fred, but pics it up anyway. Standing, she takes aim at the vampire's head and chunks the road as hard as she can. It smacks against the vampire's had, and she screams, her hands flying up to her head. The Volturi guard immediately pushes her off, and jumps at her, grabbing her neck. "Don't look!" orders Fred. Immediately, Ginny covers her eyes. All she hears is a bloodcurdling scream, a snap, and it stopped.

"Fred? Is it over?" asks Ginny.

When there was no reply, Ginny opens her eyes and sees Fred is no longer there. Looking back to where the two vampires were fighting, she flinches when she sees the decapitated head of the female vampire laying on the ground. The Volturi guard was panting heavily. He looks up at Ginny and nods. "Nice seeing you." before he turns and is gone.


	10. The Past Hurts

Hey readers! Thanks for all your get better wishes! My elbow is pretty much healed!

**~*10*~**

**The Past Hurts**

It is a beautiful day outside.

Hermione deciding to escape everyone for the entire day. She packs a lunch full of fruit, a muggle peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some muffins, two water bottles, all of her work folders, a blanket, and her favorite books before escaping from the Cullen's house. It was late in the morning, and Hermione decided it was going to be a "Mione Day."

Rushing into the forest, she looks for a good spot to sit down. She treks through the forest for about an hour, till she finds a small pond surrounded by flowers and small trees. Smiling, she walks over to a cute little tree that provides just enough space for Hermione's blanket. Spreading it out underneath, she curls up on it and immediately opens her book.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?"

Hermione turns her head toward the voice. Who she sees doesn't surprise her. Remus Lupin and Tonks were sitting beside her, both with their familiar, kind smiles. Hermione chuckles and lays down her book. "Haven't seen you two in a while."

_Being led down a dark hallway by a hand that she couldn't feel..._

Hermione blinks with a frown at the flash. "Well, for a while there you got better." Tonks says, her eyes sad.

_"This will make it all better.."_

Hermione looks away, trying to act like she wasn't remembering things. "And I'm not anymore?"

_"The pain will be gone..."_

"This place has taken a hard toll on you for some reason. Also, it's harder to get a hold of you with all your new friends." Remus replies.

_"No!" screams Hermione, ripping away from the force that doesn't physically, but mentally, has a hold on her. "You just want me to die!"_

Hermione takes out a strawberry and nibbles on it, her eyes watering by the things these ghosts are causing her to remember. "I've missed you two. You use to visit me everyday."

_"You will miss you.." whispers the voices._

Tonks smiles and reaches out. She places her hand on Hermione's knee. "You got better." she repeated.

_"You will never make it without us..." Hermione shivers. "We are your life now."_

Hermione blinks and looks away. "Doesn't seem like it." she mumbles.

_"Leave me alone!" screams Hermione hysterically, pulling her hair, trying to ward away the demons of her past._

"Hermione?"

Hermione turns and blinks in surprise to see Alec standing a little way's off. The vision have stopped. Hermione looks back to where Remus and Tonks were sitting, but they were gone. Alec is suddenly sitting beside her. "Who were you talking to?"

Hermione turns to face Alec, knowing she couldn't lie to him. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course." Alec replies, popping a blueberry into his mouth, although he usually drinks blood.

"Sometimes people that I know, who have died, come back and talk to me." Hermione explains slowly. "Sometimes it's just to talk, or sometimes to warn me about a dangerous situation. I was just talking to two people named Remus and Nymphadora. They died during the battle. It's been a while since I have seen them." Hermione's eyes grow distant. "It's been a long time sense I've seen... Anyone."

Alec nods slowly. "Well, most people would think this is extremely weird, but it's okay."

Hermione smiles at him. Suddenly, something catches her eye, and her breath gets caught in her throat. The little girl from her dream is standing not far behind Alec. She puts her finger in front of her mouth, signaling for Hermione to be quiet. Alec, not noticing anything is wrong, continues talking. "I have to return to Volterra tonight, and I was wondering if you wanted to come along and see the castle."

"What?" Hermione gasps in shock, nearly forgetting the little girl was there. "Go with you? To Italy?"

Alec nods and smiles. "I'm headed to the airport right now. The Volturi has their private jet waiting for me. I just need to be briefed on situations around the country, and then I will be back by nightfall. You do not have to come, but I don't feel comfortable leaving you behind."

Hermione opens her mouth to refuse the offer when the little girl speaks. Alec doesn't seem to hear her, because he doesn't react to her voice. "_You have to go with him. Your not safe here right now. You need to go with him to Italy."_

Hermione blinks in surprise. For some reason, she feels like she can trust this little girl. "Sure." she says with a smile. "I would love to come."

Alec smiles. "Great!" behind him, the little girl giggles before turning and running off, brown hair flying behind her.

_GgGgGgGg_

_The rain was relentless. Ginny walks as fast as she could in her heels along the street. Without an unbrella, raincoat, or rainboots, she was soaking wet from head to toe. Suddenly, the heel on her left foot broke. Crying out, she tore her heels off angrily and huffed along barefoot in the rain. She should've gotten a cab. The alcohol she had previously put in her body was clouding her head, but at least it was keeping Fred away..._

_Everything was just to difficult right now. Harry had just recently called it off, Molly had kicked Ginny out because of her drinking problem, and Ginny had recently been let go at St. Mungo's hospital._

_Suddenly, Ginny stumbled. She titled sideways and feel into an alley. Crashing into the ground, she yelped as her knee scraps against the gravel and begins bleeding. Sobbing, Ginny doesn't even try to get up. Crying in the rain, she backs up to the alley wall and leans against it. She couldn't stop the tears. Sitting there in the alley, was her weakest moment. Memories of the battle swam in her head, confusing the past from the reality._

_A death eater was leaning down, his hand stretched down to get her... Ginny screams and curls up in a ball, shielding herself from something that wasn't there. She tried reaching from her wand, but her hand was shaking so much from the alcohol and the visions, she couldn't get it out of her purse, so instead she chunks it across the alley, frustrated. Curling back into the tight ball, she simply sits there and tries to hide from her demons._

_"Excuse me Miss, are you alright?"_

_Ginny looks up. Standing in front of her was a middle aged man. He wore glasses that covered the enormous bags under his eyes, but his light blue eyes were kind and his blond hair was graying. A large raincoat was draped over his shoulders, shielding him from the rain. Ginny sniffed and shrugged. "Do I look okay?" she asked grumpily, her voice slurring._

_The man frowned. Spotting her purse at the end of the alley, he walked over and picked it up. Ginny didn't stop him. At this point, she simply wanted to die. He walked back over and held our his hand. "Common. My apartment is right down the block. I'll make you some warm tea and you can get sober." Ginny stared at him with a suspicious glare. "Don't worry, I'm not some pervert." he said, with a friendly smile. "Common, your gonna get sick out here."_

_Ginny looked at his hand, and for a moment she hesitated, before taking it._

"Ginny! Ginny! You need to wake up!"

Ginny swats at the voice. "Go away."

"Ginny! Please, wake up!"

Ginny growls and open her eyes. The sight she is greeted by makes her scream. Fred is kneeling in front of her bed, looking frantic. Ginny makes a face and turns on her lamp. "What do you want?" she growls.

"Your in danger!" he says. "There are Death Eater's downstairs at the door, talking to Carlisle right now! They are looking for you and Hermione!"

Ginny's eyes widen. Immediately, she runs to the door. Opening it slowly, she peeks down the stairs. Two cloaked figures are standing at the door, talking to Carlisle. Ginny slips back into her room, looking frantic. "Why can't these people let go of this already?" she growls, frustrated. She looks to Fred helplessly. "What do I do?"

"Call Embry with your muggle cellphone. He will come and get you." Fred says quickly, glancing nervously at the door.

Ginny nods and grabs the phone. She finds Embry's number and calls it, then remembers Hermione. "Hermione!" she gasps.

"Don't worry, she's safe." he assures.

Ginny frowns. Fred definitely wasn't telling her the entire story, but she knew he was telling the true. Embry picked up in the third ring. "Yes, ginger?"

"Embry, I need you to come get me. It's important." Ginny said frantically. She looks to Fred, but he is already gone.

_HhHhHhHh_

"I'm surprised you actually came." says Alec, flashing a smile to Hermione.

She giggles. They are sitting in the cabin room in the private plane. Alec had ordered champagne. He was drinking it, Hermione however took one sip and set it back down. "I'm not a big drinker."

Alec nods, in the middle of a sip. He sets it down on the little table in front of them. "Unlike Ginny." he says as if he knows her.

Hermione narrows her eyes slightly and turns more sideways to face him. "How do you know about that?" she asks quietly.

Alec chuckles and turns also. "Your not the only one who I know everything about."

Hermione frowns. "Then why aren't you "protecting" her as well?"

"She has Embry." replies Alec simply, as if it was obvious.

Hermione understood that. Her face grew sad. "She has had a much harder time than I have."

Alec nods. "Oh, I know. It was a good thing Bill found her when he did."

Hermione nods, her eyes wide. "Ginny probably would've died." she sighs. "I mean, you know what happened, but you weren't _there_." Alec focuses in on Hermione as she continues. "It was _so_ bad for her." she says sadly. "It was bad when she was with Harry, but it just spiraled out of control when he called it off. He threw her out of their apartment. She told me the last thing he said to her was "I don't need some drunk, slut who can't take care of herself living with me! I need to take care of myself! Get out of here, you little whore!" It nearly killed Ginny." Hermione hadn't been looking at Alec throughout the story, and when she did, he looked horrified.

"Her drinking got worse. She moved in with her mother and father, but she had gotten too violent and... Molly just couldn't handle it. She kicked Ginny out, nearly saying the same thing Harry did. She refused to move in with Ron or I, thinking that it would end up the same as her past situations. It didn't help that her mental health was scarred during the battle." Hermione rubbed her forehead. This story was hard for her.

Alec took her hand. "You don't have to continue." he says.

Hermione shakes her head. "No, I need to get this out." Alec nods and she continues. "During the battle, something _snapped_. She was so _young_ and _vulnerable_. She hadn't witnessed the things Harry, Ron, or I experienced when we were hunting the Horcrux's, so the battle nearly destroyed her. She kept seeing things that weren't there, like Death Eater's attacking her. And she would see Fred's ghost. And that's what really threw her over the edge."

Hermione had to pause for a moment to try to figure out how to explain this part the right way. "Ginny told me that Fred would sometimes help her, like leading her out of bars and clubs. But sometimes, he would tell her to do bad things. This completely messed up her will to say no, so she did anything Fred told her to, good or bad." she paused. "You know about the car accident right?"

When Alec nodded, Hermione breathed in and continued. "According to Ginny, Fred got her way drunk, convincing her to drink an entire bottle of vodka, then to steal a muggle car, and drive it off of a bridge." Alec nods, but looks stricken. "She almost died. Luckily, there had been people nearby, and they jumped in and saved her." Hermione's eyes watered up. "I went and saw her when she was in the hospital. It nearly _killed_ me to see how bad she was, but she wouldn't take my help."

"The night when she got out of the hospital, she got herself drunk, again, and was walking in the rain when Bill found her. He told me later after he gave Ginny and I our jobs that he found her crying in an alley, so drunk she could barely talk." Hermione sniffed and Alec reached forward and wiped away a stray tear. Hermione smiled gently and continued. "She stayed with him for a little while. That's when he sent her to St. Mungo's for mental rehabilitation. After her mind got better, she moved in with me and Bill gave us our jobs and practically became our father figure. He even managed to get Ginny and her mom to start talking again." Hermione smiled. "Bill saved her."

Alec nods. "Well, I'm glad Bill found her. And you too, he helped you too Hermione. Don't forget how bad you were as well. Nothing was easy for you as well." Alec says gently, taking her hands.

Hermione nods. "Yeah." she looks away. "I know."


	11. Betrayal

**~*11*~**

**Betrayal**

"Ginny!" calls a voice.

Ginny peeks her head out of her window, her hair falling around her face. Embry is standing under her window, looking slightly confused. "Why do you..?"

"Shhh!" hisses Ginny nervously.

Embry frowns. Ginny glances backwards, making sure no one was there, before swinging her legs over the edge of the window. Embry's eyes grow huge. Before he could get a word out, Ginny launches herself out of the window. She holds back her scream, knowing she could be heard. "Shit!" she hears Embry yell.

S\\\\\uddenly, she is no longer falling. She is in the safe, warm arms of Embry. She smiles up at him but is surprised by the look of utter horror on his face. "Are you alright?" he gasps.

Ginny nods and crawls from his arms. She grabs his hand and drags him into the forest. "You need to get me out of here!" she orders.

Embry frowns, but doesn't argue. Immediately, he transfers into a wolf. Ginny hops onto his back and they sprint into the forest, just in time too, because a Death Eater's head pokes out of Ginny's window before disappearing back inside.

_GgGgGgGg_

"So, there are people after you?"

Ginny peeks over a bookcase, looking into Embry's warm eyes. Muggle music plays overhead, setting a gentle atmosphere into the tiny bookstore down the block from the reserve. "They are the leftovers of Voldemort's followers from the war who can't seem to get over the fact that they have lost." she snorts. "They want revenge." she says simply, waltzing along the aisle.

Embry turns into her aisle, holding two cups of steaming coffee. Ginny takes the right cup happily and takes a long drink. "How did they know you are in America?" Embry asks with a worried frown.

"Work probably. My work life isn't exactly secret." replies Ginny, sliding into a chair. Embry sat down across from her. The calming smell of cocoa beans filled the air. Ginny watches the few muggles into the bookstore, most of them plugged into their computers or simply reading with a warm drink or a pasty. They look so peaceful, so at ease.

She sighs wistfully and wraps her fingers around the coffee. Embry raises an eyebrow at her. Ginny giggles and sits back. "What?"

Embry stares at her for a moment then smiles. "Nothing." he replied.

Ginny smiles. She looks outside the window of the shop and finds it to be raining again. Ginny is about to turn away when something catches her eye. A small blue cat is sitting right outside the window. It is pure blue and nearly see through, and what looks like blue mist floating around it. Ginny stiffens and immediately stands.

Embry frowns. "Ginny?"

But Ginny is already running to the door. She throws it open and makes eye contact with the cat. The cat stands, meows, then turns and runs across the slick road into the forest. Throwing her hood over her head, Ginny sprints after the cat. Once inside the forest, she looks around for the cat and spots it's tail disappearing into the forest.

"Wait!" Ginny cries, tearing after the cat that is so familiar to her.

She chases helplessly after the cat, following it's blue shape through the forest. Eventually, her legs got extremely tired and she had to slow down, and that is when she lost the cat. "No!" she cried, but it was already gone.

Ginny groans and bends over, breathing heavily. "Ginny, I thought you knew better than to yell out in a unknown place, especially with Death Eater's around." says a knowing, gentle voice.

Ginny stands up straight, eyes wide and wand out immediately. "Bullocks! I forgot how fast you were!" cries out a man standing in front of her, shielding his face.

Ginny immediately drops her arm and smiles happily. "Bill!" she cries happily, running over to him and throwing her arms around the old man.

Bill chuckles and hugs back the witch. "Hello, Ginny."

"Ginny! Where are you?" cries out Embry, who comes crashing into the scene. A confused facial expression overcomes him when he sees Ginny hugging Bill.

Ginny smiles and runs over to Embry. Grabbing his hand, she drags him over to Bill. "Embry, this is Bill, my boss." she says happily. "And Bill this is..."

"Embry, the werewolf. I remember him from his file." says Bill, clearly delighted. He sticks out his hand and Embry shakes it, looking extremely relieved that Bill wasn't some old creeper man.

"What are you doing here?" asks Ginny, confused but happy.

"I'm afraid that Hermione is in trouble." replies Bill, looking solemn. "Where is she? I must speak to her immediately."

Ginny frowns. Thunder rolls overhead, speaking of a quickly coming storm. "She should be back at the house. Why? What's wrong?" she asks worriedly, pulling her jacket sleeves over her hands as the rain slowly begins to fall.

Bill shakes his head and begins heading back to the coffee shop. "Embry, will you take me to the Cullen's house?" he asks.

Embry nods, looking confused and begins walking. Ginny runs in front of Bill and sticks out her arms. "No Bill, what's going on?" she demands.

Bill sighs. "This is confidential." he tries to push past Ginny but she refuses to let him by. The rain is falling faster now.

"Confidential my arse!" Ginny argues, some droplets of rain getting caught in her eyelashes, which makes her blink before regaining eye contact with a worried Bill.

Bill sighs again. "Hermione has made some friends that want to harm her." he explains, knowing he can't win this situation.

The rain begins to come down harder. Ginny frowns, folding her arms to her chest, the rain falling down her arm and off of her fingertips. "What kind of friends?" she demands, her hair beginning to stick to her neck.

Bill sighs and runs his hand nervously through his wet, gray hair. "The Volturi. She has been fraternizing with one of their guards and she is in grave danger."

_HhHhHhHh_

It was so cold.

Hermione steps into the Volturi castle, and immediately she shivers. It was so dark. Alec comes and stands beside her. "Are you cold?" he asks gently.

Hermione simply shrugs. Immediately, Alec takes off his coat and puts it around her shoulders. She doesn't protest and simply sinks into the jacket, sliding her arms inside and sighing thankfully. It smells like him, which sends a comforting feeling over Hermione. "Here, I want to introduce you to the Volturi." he says.

Hermione eyes widen. "What? I thought I was just going to wait?"

"Please, they would be delighted to meet you." Alec replies. He leans over and takes Hermione's hands and laces her fingers with his. "I'll be right beside you the entire time."

Hermione stares at their hands and slowly nods. He smiles and begins to lead her down the hall. His hand is freezing, sending electric spikes up her body. When they arrived outside the throne room, Alec nods to Hermione and pushes the door open with his free hand.

Alec gently lets out of her hand and immediately, Hermione feels exposed. He walks in and smiles. "Aro. Cauis. Marcus. It's been a while."

Hermione look up from the ground to see three vampires sitting in what looks like to be thrones at the front of the room. They were so cold. Their icy red eyes seem to be looking right into her soul, making Hermione feel self conscious. There was something extremely royal about them. Maybe it was the way they held themselves. Hermione could feel their judgement grazing her body. Standing straight, she looks straight into the eyes of the one sitting in the middle.

The eye contact was nearly breathtaking. It was like he was trying to break her without words or movement. Simply his stare was enough to break the spirit of a normal human. But Hermione wasn't any normal human. She is a witch who has faced death and lived to tell the tale. She is a witch who has overcome adversity at the highest level. But most importantly, she is a young woman who has overcome her inner demons.

Hermione held her head high. _I am stronger than you. _

Finally, eye contact was broken. The vampire in the middle looks to Alec, his face expressionless. Hermione lets out a small breathe of air, realizing she had been holding her breathe. "I see you have brought a friend." he says icily.

"Yes, Aro." Alec says, turning to Hermione and smiling. "This is the witch who is studying the Olympic Coven and the wolfpack in Forks."

Aro immediately looks back at Hermione. Immediately, he stands and suddenly he is right in front of Hermione. She jumps and looks nervously to Alec. Alec looks slightly worried, but it is dismissed. He looks her over again. "Marcus, will you update Alec on the statuses of the over covens. I want to speak to this young witch alone."

Hermione immediately looks to Alec helplessly. He nods gently, saying it will be okay. Aro smiles a strange smile, takes Hermione's hand and leads her out of the hall. His hand was freezing, sending icy chills up her arm. "So, my witch, I am surprised you are... Friends. Considering the relationship we have with the Cullen's."

Hermione shrugged, taking her hand out of Aro's. "The Volturi hasn't really done anything to Ginny and I, except for Jane torturing us."

"But, Jane killed Alice." Aro said, stopping in his tracks. He looks deep into Hermione's eyes, like he was searching for resentment.

Hermione nods. "Yes, but I didn't really know Alice at the time. Yes, her death was sad but I didn't know her very well."

Aro looks Hermione over carefully, trying to find faults in her words. Hermione held her head high, and stared right back at him. She looked right into his red eyes, and chills went up and down her spine. _Voldemort. _Hermione the first to look away, feeling helpless. Aro frowns. "Oh, you are frightened."

Hermione shakes her head, brushing her hair behind her ears. "No, I just... Knew someone with red eyes like you once." she murmured.

Hermione walks forward, hoping that Aro wouldn't press the subject. "Another vampire, perhaps?" he asks, sliding up beside her.

Hermione shakes her head. Aro frowns and stops. "Ahhh... Tom Riddle, yes?"

Hermione freezes. Her heart begins to race. "How do you know about him?" she whispers, barely able to get the words out.

Aro snakes around Hermione and stands in front of her. "He tried to recruit us for his little... Battle. We obviously declined." Aro's face is expressionless, but it was clear he was trying to get under Hermione's skin. "We don't get ourselves entangled in the... Magical world."

Aro's face after he spoke the two words looked so disgusted that Hermione looked away. "You obviously do not like my kind." she whispers, looking at her feet.

Aro chuckles. He begins to mark circles around Hermione, and gently brushes her hair off of her shoulder, exposing her neck. Hermione watches him nervously. "Hermione!" calls Alec's voice.

Hermione breathes out thankfully. Alec jogs up behind her, and throws his arm around her shoulders. "Ready to head back to Forks?"

Hermione nods and smiles, thankful to get away from Aro. "Yeah, definitely." she says, looking nervously back at Aro.

Aro smiles at Hermione. "It was delightful to meet you, Hermione."

Hermione simply nods. Alec turns her around and walks her down the hall. "How'd that talk with Aro go?"

Hermione shrugged. "He's... Creepy."

Alec laughs a half hearted laugh. He seems, different. Hermione looks up to him. He looks troubled. "Alec, is something wrong?" asks Hermione.

Alec stares at his feet. He looks up, his eyes almost burning red. Hermione slowly backs away, but Alec is suddenly in front of her. He stares deep into her brown eyes, and Hermione ca see sadness floating inside the red depths. "I'm sorry." he whispers.

Hermione frowns. She is about to say something when Alec leans down and suddenly, he is kissing Hermione. Hermione squeaks in surprise, but doesn't pull away. Immediately, her eyes flutter closed and she wraps her arms around his neck. Alec pulls her closer, but abruptly pulls away.

He then bends his head down to her neck. Hermione closes her eyes, expecting soft kisses on her neck. But instead, something sharp and cold sinks into her neck. Hermione screams and pulls away, grabbing her neck in shock. "Did you... Did you bite me?" Hermione screams, her eyes wide.

Alec looks devastated. "I'm sorry." he says helplessly.

Hermione reaches for her wand, but a burning sensation comes over her body. Gasping, Hermione grabs her heart. Her vision starts to waver as pain slowly increases up her body. "Alec.." she screams.

The pain took over, and all to be heard was screaming.


End file.
